MAKER PORTFOLIO
SD HACKS HACKATHON
[2015]
CircuitSolver5000
At SD Hacks, we created the CircuitSolver5000, a computer vision algorithm that reads hand-drawn circuits and solves for total resistance/current. The input is an image as shown in the top right (red=resistor, blue=battery, and neon green=node). We initially planned on using letter recognition and circle detection, but ended up using color thresholding because it is far faster (results displayed in the bottom right corner). I developed the solving module, by creating a recursive algorithm that takes an array containing the resistors' ohms as input. Resistors in parallel were put into nested arrays, allowing them to be differentiated from resistors in series. The use of recursion enabled the algorithm to solve the innermost resistors first and then work its way out, alternating between the consolidation of series and parallel branches (result displayed in top left). It was thrilling to see my algorithm finally working (bottom left).
This year, on Oct 2nd-4th, I attended my first hackathon, SD Hacks, organized by Major League Hacking at UCSD. Although it was a collegiate hackathon, with attendees from Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, etc., I participated with three other junior girls from my school. As the oldest and most experienced programmer, I led the team. The photo on the top right is a picture of two of my teammates and I submitting our project before presentations. The second photo illustrates the late-night hacking environment. I only got 7 hours of sleep between Friday and Sunday, going to bed around 5AM, both days. The bottom left photo illustrates the system architecture of the algorithm we developed. The bottom right image captures the excitement I felt when the solving algorithm finally ran at 3AM the morning of presentation day. It was an incredible (sleepless) 36 hours of hacking!