Coronavirus hackathon envisions solutions for a new way of living

The coronavirus that entered our lives three months ago  abruptly changed our daily habits and lifestyles, and those of billions of people around the globe. This is exactly where a new initiative of the Shamoon College of Engineering (SCE) and the technological incubator InNegev located in Idan Hanegev Industrial Park comes in - The virtual hackathon was designed to generate solutions for the new habits we will have to adopt in order to adjust to the new reality. 

Anyone standing next to an elevator will certainly be surprised to see the number of creative methods people use to avoid touching the elevator buttons with their fingers: they use the edge of a key, wrap their finger in a tissue, poke the button with their elbow, or even use their mobile phone to press the buttons. 

These methods are no longer needed. A team of SCE students who participated in a hackathon on Shavuot eve, surprised everyone with an original idea. The students proposed a device concealed in the elevator ceiling that automatically disinfects the elevator button pad after every use, allowing the next person to press the buttons without risk of infection.

This was only one of the innovations devised during the hackathon by the 134 students from the college’s various engineering departments who are enrolled in a course on entrepreneurship. According to the head of the Center of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at SCE, Dr. Netta Kalay, the students presented their ideas to the panel of investors and judges and proved the feasibility of their ideas using realistic simulations. The judging panel was made up of SCE researchers, senior managers and officers of InNegev, and representatives of factories and industries located in southern Israel including Sodastream, Netafim, and others.

Among the top-rated ideas were a 3D printer that creates precise, high quality nail stickers out of pictures, as a substitute for a visit to a gel nail polish salon, allowing people looking for a professional nail treatment to maintain social distancing. Other students presented a voice tracker that can be placed in large public spaces to monitor large gatherings of people and crowds by identifying a dramatic increase in sound levels. The system also sends an alert to a monitoring service. Other students produced an automatic foot-operated disinfecting device for toilets that sprays disinfectant and allows the safe use of the toilet seat.   

Although it was not shortlisted by the judges, another idea that attracted the judges’ curiosity was a face mask made of cannabis plant leftovers (after an industrial process) that are typically sent to a certified waste center such as Naot Hovav. According to the students, the mask is made of antibacterial material and is reusable. 

 

Eyal Ginzberg, CEO of InNegev, the incubator that sponsored the hackathon, stated that the incubator’s aim is to identify technological innovations designed by inventors and aid their development in order to contribute to industrial activity in southern Israel. The incubator helps local industrialists to improve their manufacturing methods and means using innovative technologies and useful, creative ideas. 

According to Amir Zah, Business Development Manager of the incubator, the hackathon followed a call published by InNegev to encourage entrepreneurs and technological innovation and to generate ideas and products that will lead to desired business operations that benefit society and the industrial sector in the south. 

The judges who assessed the numerous ideas presented by the students included Ely Ben Simon, member of the executive board of Netafim and Chair of the boad of InNegev; Orit Almog of Sodastream, Koby Lieberman of Lamed Holdings, Eyal Ginzberg and Dror Green of InNegev, and Asaf Yerushalmi of Netafim. Representing the college on the judges panel were Dr. Netta Kalay, head of the Center of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and faculty members and entrepreneurs Dr. Oren Dayan, Shimon Gadlevsky, Amos Redlich, and Omri Yalovksy.