Sleep-deprived tech inventions

Over+the+weekend%2C+techies+united+to+work+on+their+projects+for+36+straight+hours+at+CWRUs+Hackathon.

Ki Oh/Observer

Over the weekend, techies united to work on their projects for 36 straight hours at CWRU’s Hackathon.

Hackathon’s innovations last weekend were an assorted bunch; an Iron Man Simulator, an app called “Oh” that warns the user if their phone is still on when they approach a classroom, and an image processor that turns 2-D pictures from Google into 3-D models were among the highlights.

Though there wasn’t much sleep at this Hacker Society hosted event, the creativity was outstanding. Projects ranged from games to helpful apps that could be used on the spot.

Michael Schaffer, Koby Picker, Michael Starling and Kai Smith, all CWRU students, were producers of Pancake Simulator 2015, a game where players look through an Oculus Rift (virtual reality headsets) and make (or burn) pancakes. They won third place for their creation.

Shaffer’s favorite thing about Hackathon was trying new technology like the Oculus Rift for the weekend.

“I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity otherwise,” he said.

For CWRU student Kristina Collins, the best thing about Hackathons is the time dedicated to a project.

“I like that you have the ability to do your thing and spend some dedicated time for something that’s not for school, because it’s nice to know that you can stay up until 4 a.m. for your own reasons instead of somebody else’s,” Collins said.

She and her Hackathon partner Meaghan Fenelon created an app called “Algebrator” to help students with Algebra. Collins says she got the idea when helping her brother with math.

Tom Carlin, a senior from Ohio State University, got his idea for a helpful app while interning at Hyland Software. He noticed how complicated sending resumes to companies is. Using this as his inspiration, he created an app that sends an individual’s resume electronically to all companies and then records who receives them.

The first place prizes went to “Tale of Two Circles,” an aesthetic game where the controller tries to avoid a variety of enemies, second place went to “2D-3D” and third place went to Pancake Simulator 2015.