Local Ahmedabad Team Wins the Premier Unmanned Vehicle Hackathon of the US

AHMEDABAD, India, May 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

iCreate collaborated with AUVSI to bring XBuild – the official unmanned systems hackathon that was held simultaneously in Ahmedabad and Denver

iCreate - the International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology, had collaborated with AUVSI (Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International), the world's most influential association for unmanned systems professionals, to bring 'XBuild', the official hackathon of AUVSI real time to India in a first ever.

The 36-hour hackathon took place in India at the iCreate campus at Dev Dholera, Ahmedabad, from Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 9:00 PM IST and ended on Monday, April 30, 2018 at 6:00 AM IST. Simultaneously, in the U.S., it took place at Boulder, Colorado, from Saturday, April 28, 2018 at 9:00 AM MDT until Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 5:00 PM MDT.

5 teams participated in the Indian part of the hackathon, and 14 from the U.S., all in groups of 2-5 members each. In India, the hackathon was sponsored by Robokits, Engineering Technique, Satyamev Infotech, ForeKen and AARAMBH Infotech India.

FASCAR the winning entry was led by Vichar Shroff who has promoted an iCreate-based project Drone Nation. His idea was to use drones for rapid first level emergency medical response within 3 minutes in crowded cities, followed by a secondary specialized drone carrying further diagnostics/medication within 10 minutes.

The second prize went to U.S.-based Drone Dr, led by Tyler Gragg, a solution that uses drones and image processing to do rapid, remote assessment of medical requirements in emergencies.

The third prize went to U.S.-based EMS Rapid Response Drone led by Alexander Curtiss, a solution that used drones to deploy life saving payloads and remote biometrics in medical emergencies.

X-Build is an unmanned systems buildathon/hackathon, launched by AUVSI at the AUVSI XPONENTIAL 2018, the largest trade show in USA for unmanned systems industry leaders and robotic systems users from the defence and commercial sectors. The Hackathon, in USA and India, brought together engineers, computer scientists, coders, physicists etc. to build innovations in unmanned systems, that can help solve real-world problems.

The theme this year was 'Using unmanned vehicles for good' and in addition there were four specific problem statements also. Details can be found at https://xbuild18.devpost.com/.

The Indian leg of the Hackathon, iCreate invited drone experts, drone startups, hardware and software engineers, coders and entrepreneurs who share an interest in using unmanned systems to solve social problems, to form teams of 2-5 members each. iCreate provided the participants with access to software (image processing, guided systems etc.), hardware (controllers, sensors, components etc.), 3D printers, mentors, as well as meals for all days, etc.

"We are delighted to partner with AUVSI for this unique XBuild Hackathon. We are also very grateful to Rashmi of DreamBig for bringing us together. Participating in challenges like this hackathon infuse confidence in our youth, that they are as good as any in the world. Although drone technology in India is still at its nascent stages, many real-world problems can be addressed through creative use of this technology. 

We thank DreamBig for helping build our association with AUVSI and look forward to many more such collaborative opportunities," said Mr. Anupam Jalote, CEO, iCreate.

This collaboration between iCreate and AUVSI presented a unique and unprecedented opportunity for participants and attendees in India to be part of and witness to a live tech hackathon of international standards, concurrently taking place in USA and India.

Participants received international exposure and observed innovative ideas, creating an unforgettable experience. AUVSI is the world's largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to advancing the unmanned systems and robotics community. Serving more than 7,500 members from government organizations, industry and academia, AUVSI is committed to fostering, developing and promoting unmanned systems and robotics technologies. AUVSI members support the defence, civil and commercial sectors.

Largely responsible for this collaboration between iCreate and AUVSI, is DreamBig, a U.S.-based non-profit organization that works towards amplifying innovation in education. Founded in 2015 by Rashmi Varma, DreamBig brings together various individuals and organizations around the globe and provides a platform to ideate, create and collaborate to create newer techniques of innovative ideas that can significantly impact the future of education and related systems. Through its initiatives, DreamBig has facilitated this collaboration between iCreate in India and AUVSI in USA, with an aim to create diversity and cross-pollination of multi-cultural ideas and innovation between the two countries, and a vision to solve global humanitarian issues through cutting-edge technology.

"I founded DreamBig in 2015 with the objective of bringing a fresh perspective to education and the ability to navigate information with real-world problems. XBuild Hackathon is an event aimed at finding innovative ideas in the field of unmanned autonomous vehicles and robotics. Collaborating on the XBuild, bringing India and U.S. together, is an exciting proposition, especially to see how the two diverse cultures approach problem solving. Our work with iCreate has spanned educational seminars on emerging technologies and we have been very happy to have them join us at XBuild," said Rashmi Varma, Founder & ED - #DreamBig.

About iCreate: 

iCreate is an initiative of GFEE (Gujarat Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence), a Section 25, now a section 8 Company, and is a 50:50 Public Private Partnership between GMDC Ltd. (Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation) and GEVPF (Gujarat Entrepreneurship and Venture Promotion Foundation). iCreate is governed by a Statutory Board, with members from GMDC and GEVPF. Since its inception, iCreate has been supported by a strong Advisory Board with 12 leading stalwarts from India as well as abroad, initially chaired by Shri Narayana Murthy, Co-founder, Infosys and is now led by Chairman Shri Dilip Shanghvi, Founder & MD, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. For more details, please visit: icreate.org.in

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