Innoquest #1, 30-Hour-Long Hackathon Begins at Anurag University

Hyderabad: InnoQuest #1, a 30-hour-long Hackathon with 360 participants out of 800 registered begins at Anurag University on Friday morning at their campus in the city at Venkatapur. The Hackathon was formally inaugurated by Ankita Singh and Nethra K, the consultants from Microsoft.

Organised by Anurag University in collaboration with Reskill and Microsoft, it focuses on leveraging emerging technologies such as AI, Machine Learning (ML), and Microsoft Copilot to drive impactful, inclusive innovations.

The participants will have to come out with innovative solutions to real-world problems and challenges and create prototypes that redefine accessibility. Solutions can range from conceptual sketches and paper prototypes to advanced digital mock-ups, reflecting the diversity of participants’ creativity and technical expertise.

Before the inaugural a Boot Camp was organised on Thursday to equip participants with the tools and knowledge to tackle accessibility challenges effectively. The 30 hours of ideation, innovation, and creation, culminated in impactful prototypes designed to make the world more accessible. 925 individuals registered, presenting transformative ideas. And 366 were shortlisted for the Innoquest series -1. They are given expert guidance by 12 mentors and 3 judges from Microsoft offering specialised insights into AI, ML, Copilot, and accessibility-focused design.

The participants were given six problem statements such as Automated Accessibility Checker; Emotion Detection for Autism Support; Indoor Navigation for the Visually Impaired; Unified Accessibility Dashboard; AI Captioning and Transcription Tool and Real-Time Sign Language Interpreter. The participants were given a choice to work on any one of the above problem statements.

Develop a website for accessibility issues based on WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) standards. And they must use Copilot to generate code for analysis and suggestions. They are supposed to Create software that uses computer vision to detect emotions in real time, helping users with autism interpret social cues. Use Copilot for facial recognition and feedback. They must build a mobile app that provides audio-based navigation for visually impaired users in indoor environments using GitHub Copilot for pathfinding and speech synthesis. They need to Create a customizable dashboard that consolidates various accessibility tools (screen readers, text magnifiers).

Innoquest is more than a hackathon; it is a mission to empower the differently abled community by fostering inclusivity through the transformative power of technology. Participants will gain valuable insights, collaborate on groundbreaking solutions, and push the boundaries of innovation using advanced tools like AI and ML stated Dr G Vishnu Murthy, Dean, Computer Science and Engineering.

Engineers are supposed to develop creative solutions and deploy them, he added. The top three winning teams will walk away with cash prizes of Rs 10,000, 7,000, and 5,000 respectively besides the Microsoft merchandise. Samanwita Harichandan, Shravya Bandaru and Suresh Patamsetty mentors from Microsoft, Azkar Uddin Khan, Dhruv Mathur and Nirupama Singh from Reskilll and Dr Siddartha Ghosh, Dr M Srinivas Rao, and Prof M Mutha Reddy of Anurag University, faculty coordinators Dr B Ravinder Reddy and S Deepika participated in the inaugural function.