First prize in the BIOART (*) hackathon to a group from HIT

Eye glasses for astronauts that improve their vision in space and were designed by a student from the faculty of Engineering, won an international student competition.

Avi Roshkovan, a student at the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Faculty, HIT

The Hackathon was part of the BIOART (*) project, which includes an international student competition, that took place at the beginning of the month and was attended by students from Israeli, Ukrainian and European institutions participating in the project.

HIT was represented by the students Avi Roshkovan, whose team won first prize in the competition, and Lior Ziggy - both from the Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering.

At the hackathon, students were presented with a number of challenges to medical distress situations that may occur during a stay in space (with a view to future tourist flights to space).

For example, a problem of lack of vision in space. The students were required to manage the project from the concept stage to finding a possible solution to a technological engineering problem in the field of bioengineering and at the end they were also asked to present a business plan including the presentation of the products.

"Our solution proposal, was to design glasses that, with the help of special sensors and artificial intelligence, know how to direct the astronaut in space, in non-optimal vision conditions" explains Avi Roshkovan.

The official certificates: (Click to enlarge)

In addition, as part of the hackathon, lectures were given by experts on a wide range of relevant topics as well as tutorials for operating a wide set of online tools.

The hackathon was originally planned to take place at the University of Technology in Krakow, but due to the limitations of the Corona was moved to an online format. It was a great success and showcased groundbreaking capabilities.

All students received a two-month subscription to lectures at masterclass.com and the first place winners also received a free online voucher.

BIOART (*)

(Bio + Artificial) Innovative Multidisciplinary Curriculum in Artificial Implants for Bio-Engineering B.Sc./M.Sc. Degrees is a multinational and multidisciplinary project that builds international capabilities in the development of up-to-date curricula in the fields of bioengineering.

The project was funded under the EU's ERASMUS + program with a budget of almost one million euros for three years. BIOART brings together European partners from 13 different higher education institutions from Spain, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Ukraine and Israel. The partners have expertise in biomedical engineering that includes many areas such as: biocompatible materials, biomedical signal processing, biological sensors, and more.

Dr. Amos Bareda, Dr. Ronen Sosnik and Dr. Dror Lederman served as mentors during the hackathon.

Dr. Amos Bardea, Head of the Bachelor's Degree Program in the faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, is the project coordinator at HIT.

Administrative support was provided by the Research, Innovation and International Authority through Bracha Einhoren.

Dr. Michal Balberg, from the Department of Digital medical technologies noted that five projects dealing with technological solutions to medical distress during a stay in space, were presented to the judging panel which included space medicine experts from Israel and Europe.

"I was very impressed with the solutions proposed and the way they were presented, one of the main goals of the hackathon is to develop soft skills like teamwork and especially working in an international team, as well as an effective presentation of the products. I encourage more female and male students to take part in hackathons like these, in order to improve their toolbox and interpersonal abilities".