A project prepared by the Neuron student research club placed second in the software category in the hackathon organized by NeuroTechX. The competition was attended by over 1,000 contestants from 55 countries. A team composed of students of Applied Computer Science: Paweł Dzikiewicz, Tomasz Koralewski, Jakub Ner and Adam Pawłowski presented the „Bore No More" project in Vienna. Congratulations!

NTX Hackathon is an event of the NeuroTechX organization, which brings together neurotechnology enthusiasts. The competition took place in a hybrid form on the 2-3 of December. It could be attended remotely via the Discord platform and in person. The participants could choose from the following locations: Paris, Zurich, Delhi, Kharagpur, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, London and Vienna – and that was the location chosen by the Pipelon team from our Faculty. The competition was attended by over 1,000 contestants from 55 countries.

The hackathon participants looked for solutions in the fields of ethics, hardware, data analysis and software. Our representatives from the Neuron research club and from Applied Computer Science had 24 hours to prepare their project. The team created a boredom classifier based on the Support Vector Machine method. They called the entire project „Bore No More". 

– The first step was to develop three versions of the popular game Tetris. The first two versions, an extremely boring one and a dynamic one, provided data needed to train the model, and the third one aggregated the trained model. As a result, the gameplay adapted to the player's level of boredom – says the research club representative.

Their solution uses the power of the Unicorn Hybrid Black to collect data and create a boredom classifier. The classifier assesses the user's level of engagement, allowing customization and improvement of the app features in order to better suit them to the needs of the player. The team conducted tests using a modified Tetris game where the speed of falling blocks was adjusted to the player's level of boredom.

As it turned out, the modified Tetris gameplay turned out to be more engaging. The player remained interested for a longer time. Moreover, no conscious effort was required. The "Bore No More" project earned the team second place in the world in the software category.

– The hackathon itself gave us not only the physical device Unicorn Hybrid Black , i.e. the prize for the second place, but also new acquaintances in the neurotechnology industry. They will make it easier to establish cooperation on interesting projects and gain valuable advice – says Marta Kuchciak, vice-president of the Neuron club.

– Congratulations on your remarkable achievement at the NeuroTechX Hackathon! Your project stood out among a highly competitive field, showcasing not only technical excellence but also innovative thinking and a deep understanding of neurotechnology. [...] Your innovation and hard work have truly paid off. We look forward to seeing how you continue to push the boundaries in the field of neurotechnology. Cheers to your success!" – said Mohit Patil, Chapter Manager at NeuroTechX, congratulating our team.

All team members who took part in the hackathon, i.e.: Paweł Dzikiewicz, Tomasz Koralewski, Jakub Ner and Adam Pawłowski) are third-year students of Applied Computer Science. As the Pipelon team, they also took part in Hack4WroclawTech, where they placed 3rd, as well as in the HackYeah competition, in which they managed to get to the final. The group actively looks for challenges and ideas for projects to be implemented together. 

The first member of the Neuron club was Paweł Dzikiewicz, who worked on a platform game named „Neurorun". The group presented it during the Student Activity Days, BEST IT Festival and at our Faculty DaWIT 2023.

The rest of the Pipelon team members, Tomasz Koralewski, Jakub Ner and Adam Pawłoski, joined it in October. In the coming months, they will work on their Team Engineering Project using devices owned by Neuron.

We wrote about how the Neuron club started here.