Ten students from the MTI3D Master's programat the Chalon-sur-Saône institute met with ten students from the Digital Reality Master's program at HAW Hamburg on the Paris campus to conduct an XR hackathon.
The aim of a hackathon is to help students develop technical skills in programming and 3D modeling in a very short period of time. "It's a good exercise in time management and stress management," says Ruding Lou, head of the MTI3D Master's program. For the XR hackathon, students had two days to complete their project. "
The goal of the XR hackathon was to raise students' awareness of international opportunities by meeting students who share the same passion and speak English. It was an immersion into their future professional lives, where they will be working in international and intercultural teams on the same subject.
Developing an application to promote environmental responsibility
The five teams, each made up of two French and two German students, rose to the challenge with enthusiasm and good humor, spending two days developing an app to promote environmental responsibility in a collaborative way.
"The presentation took place in the presence of Eike Langbehn, head of the Digital Reality master's program at HAW Hamburg, Ruding Lou, and myself," says Jean-Remy Chardonnet, deputy director of the Chalon-sur-Saône institute. "The students had to give an oral presentation of their project without any supporting materials, then demonstrate the virtual reality application they had developed."
Two award-winning projects
Two of the five projects won awards.
The first project involved placing two people in the same environment, one in the present (where everything is fine) and the other in the future (where everything is deserted). The aim is for the person in the future to guide the person in the present so that the future becomes livable again. The person in the present must grow trees, save water, etc.
The second project simulated cleaning up all the waste in the ocean from a submarine. While one person pilots the submarine, a second person operates a claw that grabs the waste. The winners on the French side are Manon Lemonnier and Kyllian Viltet for the first project, and Olivier Raoux and Pierre Thibaut for the second project.
A presentation at an international conference
The next step for the winners is to finalize their projects by early January 2025 in Hamburg for presentation at the IEEE VR 2025 international virtual reality conference (more information).
This hackathon received financial support from the Franco-German Youth Office.
