MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — While most of the teams in the 10th annual Middle Tennessee State University Computer Science Department HackMT experienced successful completions of their app and web-related projects after working 36 hours nonstop, U.S. Army veteran Nathaniel Frost and teammate Rhama Seid admitted they literally ran out of time.
They were among 15 teams and 130 students competing in the event from Friday, Jan. 31 until Sunday, Feb. 2, working with industry professionals serving as mentors — some of whom are alumni — to invent new web and computer applications, games and more. Coffee and other beverages and snacks kept them going, plus most caught bits of sleep.
Computer science, mathematics, mechatronics engineering and computer information systems students participated.
“This was our largest HackMT since 2020,” said Joshua Phillips, computer science professor and event director. “All 15 teams stuck it out. We had great support again from our industry partners and sponsors.”
Sponsors included Asurion, CAT Financial, Bondware and CGI.
Judges awarded juniors Gavin Liles and Noah Smith scholarships.
A learning experience
Frost, 40, a Murfreesboro resident who served in the Army and Tennessee National Guard, and Seid, 21, teamed up for a project titled “Food4U” that Seid said she hopes to continue exploring.
“We ran out of time,” said Frost, a senior computer science major who anticipates graduating in December. “It turned into a research project on Saturday. We were going down rabbit holes. It was a very educational experience. You learn from your failures.”
It was “a pretty different experience” for Seid, also a senior computer science major planning to graduate in December. “I learned a lot of new (computer) languages and frameworks.”
Providing data analysis for audio
One of several mechatronics engineering students participating in the event, Bereket Tagistesillassie of Murfreesboro was among 14 students and mentors with the “AudiPy” team on a successful math-oriented project providing data analysis for audio.
“It was a fully functional Python library for people to download,” said Tagistesillassie, 21, a senior graduating in May, who added he was “able to get some sleep and making sure things were running properly.”
Teammate brothers
Brothers Thomas, 17, and Rafaiel Abdelmaseh, 15, of Smyrna are both freshmen — Thomas at MTSU, majoring in mechatronics engineering, and Rafaiel at Stewarts Creek High School in Smyrna.
Their project, titled “Robotic Hand Assistant,” created a model device “to help elderly and disabled people in their day-to-day lives or their chores,” Thomas Abdelmaseh said. “We plan to improve on the device later.
“The robot will have multiple sets of hands or accessories that are interchangeable for different tasks, and the robot will change it by itself. The person will instruct the robotic arm where to go. The robot will also have sensors that will be used for obstacle avoidance, but it will also use AI (artificial intelligence) to map out the house and the robot will remember where different rooms are.”
A facial recognition project
Mentors from Nashville-based LRQ led one team in its facial recognition project titled “FaceOff.” The team earned first place in the judges’ voting.
“We overcame a lot of challenges,” said Andrew Walker, 22, a senior computer science major from Murfreesboro.
LRQ’s Fred Nelson said it was “a web app that tracks your facial emotions and displays them.” As the team formed on the opening night with each member having a specific job, he gave each of them nicknames “as a way of just having fun.”
