Over 100 ɫƵ students have taken part in a 48 hour ‘Hackathon’ to solve real industry focused problems.
12 teams consisting of over 100 students from UL’s Department of Computer Science and Information Systems (CSIS) took part in the event.
The final year students from the Computer Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and Interaction Design undergraduate programmes worked collaboratively on problems such as a cutting-edge AI Chatbot designed to utilise accurate and verified information, and an advanced timetabling system.
During the challenge four experienced industry mentors from Horizon, Microsoft, and Service Now worked alongside the teams for 48 hours.
The presence of the mentors resulted in most of the systems reaching an ‘industry-ready’ level of quality by the end of the challenge.
Liam McNamara, Lead Ethereum Architect with Limerick Company Horizon, who mentored the students, was impressed by the calibre of the students work.
“It was beyond my expectations. From how they broke down the work and planned, to dividing it between them and the teams collaborating was great to see. Huddles, whiteboard sessions, pairs working together. It had a real world feel of how a team under pressure would behave.
“It was fantastic to see how teams and individuals overcame obstacles and kept moving. Some moments of despair but an overwhelmingly positive finish. Congratulations to all, they were excellent.”
Professor Patrick Healy, Head of the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, highlighted that collaboration between disciplines was key to the projects’ success.
“The involvement of designers in the teams—an element not usually present—was instrumental in ensuring that the solutions were not only technically sound but also intuitive and user-friendly, meaning that many of the projects only needed minor adjustments before transitioning into a production-ready stage.
“This was reflected in feedback from the students, many saying that it was the closest thing to working on a real-world project that they had experienced studying in UL.
“What was most impressive was the degree of collaboration and cooperation we observed amongst the groups. It really captured the spirit of teamwork,” added Professor Healy.
At the end of the event three teams were awarded prizes for their projects based on their innovative approach, usability and saleability of their solution.
The project was developed by the Department to ensure every student develops the technical, creative, and interpersonal skills required by modern industry.