Photo slideshow: Student inventors do battle at Cal Hacks
More than 1,000 inventive students from across the country inhabited California Memorial Stadium this weekend as they sought glory, prize money and the sheer thrill of solving problems together in a 36-hour tech event, Cal Hacks.
October 7, 2014
Inventive students from across the country inhabited California Memorial Stadium this weekend as they sought glory, prize money and the sheer thrill of solving problems together in a 36-hour hackathon. Check out the action here:
As the hours grind on, a student catches some Zs. Winners were announced Sunday afternoon. Top prize went to a team of five (three of them from Berkeley), creators of MindDrone, a flying drone controlled by neurological signals.
Tech luminati spoke in the University Club at the top of the stadium. Down below, hackers spill out onto Goldman Plaza, a good place to think, confer or rest.
University of Waterloo sophomore Nima Vaziri experiments with "Oculus Rift," a virtual- reality head-mounted display used for gaming. Hackers were supplied with tools (including 3D printers and laser cutters) if they wanted to build a physical object.
James Chang, a Berkeley junior, takes some space from the madding crowd.
Cal Hacks was co-hosted by the Center for Information Technology in the Interest of Society Invention Lab and Major League Hacking, with a long list of corporate sponsors.
UC Berkeley freshman Arabi Bhattacharyay sketches out notes.
UC Berkeley freshman Tony Nie, left, and University High senior Thomas Chen work on their project.
Student teams hunker down in stadium rooms, working to invent something special to impress the judges – campus professors plus industry experts.
After opening ceremonies Friday evening, hacking began at the stroke of midnight.
College and high-school students, more than 1,000 strong, converge on Memorial Stadium to build hardware and software at Cal Hacks. (Kevin Ho Nguyen photos)