COSAM News Articles 2015 February Brice, Byaly, Clontz, and Sarver competed in the Smart City Hackathon

Brice, Byaly, Clontz, and Sarver competed in the Smart City Hackathon

Published: 02/26/2015

Daniel Brice (former PhD graduate), Alex Byaly, Steven Clontz, and Zachary Sarver competed in the Smart City Hackathon competition in the Shelby Center last weekend as "Math Dept Team Alpha." Eight teams of 3-6 programmers each faced off from 9am Saturday to 4:30pm Sunday, with the task of building smart tools (software or hardware) for the benefit of Auburn, AL.

Their project was one of the two winners of the local competition. This tool uses linear algebra to analyze edge-detected screenshots of the City of Auburn's live feed of Toomer's Corner in order to determine if it is being rolled with toilet paper. If so, their program posts to a Twitter account called @IsToomersRolled and updates our website h ttp://istoomerscornerbeingrolledrightnow.com

The team received a $750 prize as well as the right to move on to a global competition for larger prizes.

Their project was cited by the judges as a clever use of mathematics which showcases a unique Auburn tradition, which may also have broader applications for video analysis as well.

Congratulations Daniel, Alex, Steven and Zach!