Team

Last weekend, the football club Young Boys Bern hosted the second edition of their annual YB Hackathon. This year, around 100 hackers competed in 15 teams to solve different challenges within 24 hours.

I was given the opportunity to participate as part of the team Power and Style, alongside with Lars Carius, Jonathan Külz, Joscha Greuel. Our challenge, submitted by ELCA, involved creating an augmented reality app that would enhance the spectator’s experience in a stadium.

The Idea

After an initial brainstorming phase, we started implementing an Android App based on ARCore, written in Kotlin. Our idea was to solve a common problem in a stadium: It is annoying to purchase food or drink during the game because one has to move along tight seating rows to get to a food stand while also missing part of the game. Our app helps in such a situation by providing a local delivery platform where fans are being matched to help each other out.

A person wanting food can use their app to localize in the surrounding environment and place an order for food or drink. A person willing to walk to a food stand can point their smartphone to the block of spectators nearby and see drinking cups or items of food overlaid on the persons who ordered something. Now, they may choose to bring one or more items of requested food or drink item to a fellow spectator, saving them the tedious walk. As an incentive, they may get a discount on their own purchased item.

Result

After 24 hours, multiple teams showed noteworthy results and impressive live demonstrations in front of the audience. On our part, we presented a live showcase of our AR app in action, showing both the ordering as well as the delivery process. To all our surprise, our augmented reality app convinced the jury to award us the first price of the YB Hackathon 2019.

Some voices about the hackathon and our team (mostly in German)

The whole team would like to thank the organizers for a great hackathon!