The annual two-day event, Hacks with Friends, took place this year on March 7th and 8th,  where technology professionals from across U-M gathered to build 18 different projects from scratch. These projects were presented in front of a panel of judges on the final day of the event and LSA Technology Services is proud to have been a part of both the First Place and Fourth Place teams!

To kickoff the event, pitches for hacks are submitted online where participants can review the projects prior to the first day of the competition. After reviewing the pitches, participants know which team they will be joining the morning of the first day. Teams are formed with roles quickly assigned so that the rest of the day is spent putting together the project. Presentations and judging occur the second day where the teams show off apps and demos that have some working functionality.

Chris Stockbridge, from LSA Technology Services Research Support Team, participated on the ContaMiNot team that took home First Place. Their pitch idea was an app designed to “help people determine what should be recycled, composted, or go in the landfill,” explained Chris. Such a resource is crucial, “because if non-recyclable plastics end up in a batch, then the whole batch can’t be recycled.” Chris and his team created an iPhone app that performed object recognition on a small library of items for the purposes of their demo. “The app worked great for the demo! The team is even motivated to keep the project going so we are working with the sustainability office to see what the most common items are that go in the wrong bins,” said Chris. This is Chris’s second first place win at Hacks with Friends and the biggest benefit for him are the networking opportunities.

Sinji Yang, from LSA Technology Services Business Intelligence Team, helped with Ask MiBot, which won Fourth Place at the event. The Ask MiBot team worked together to demo a ‘personal assistant’ app for U-M students. Ask MiBot leveraged Google Cloud Services for Natural Language to recognize people’s voices and be able to respond to a question—similar to devices like Siri or Alexa. A student can say, “Hey, Google, talk to MiBot, what are my options for breakfast today?” and the app will pull up the day’s menu at various dining halls around campus using data available in U-M servers. “I enjoyed working on something that is different than my normal job. I’m able to pick up new ideas and it’s good to see how people [across U-M] work together in groups,” noted Sinji.

Hacks with Friends is open to all University staff with any skill set or idea for a hack, not just IT professionals. The online pitches indicate what kind of skills—developers, web designers, user experience experts—the project needs. However, what most people do not know is that professionals outside of the IT world can also bring skills such as sales, public speaking, and project management to the table. Ultimately, the project is presented in front of a panel of judges so having someone on the team with the ability to sell an idea, captivate an audience, or ensure the team stays on task is extremely beneficial. “My group last year had one person who was really only on the team for the presentation. Or if you have skills in photography that can help sell the idea to the judges,” said Chris. Sinji concurred, “If you’re a sales person you can help present the idea. Anyone can pitch an idea and get a team together who can help you solve it.”

Hacks with Friends typically takes place every year during Spring Break. Be on the lookout early next year for information about the 2020 event. We hope you submit an idea, join a team, or volunteer!