GUARDIANS OF THE GRID

HACKATHON 2023

SEPTEMBER 15th - 16th, 2023

SEPTEMBER 15th - 16th, 2023

4pm Friday to 4pm Saturday
@ the FSU Innovation Hub

*with 8-hour break for sleep at home

EVENT INFORMATION

Over $4,000 in prize money!

Three meals included!

Free event t-shirts & giveaways for all participants!

Great opportunity to make new connections, gain marketable skills, and make a difference in the world!!

Event Agenda

  • Teaming, Planning, Ideation

    3:30 PM Check-in

    4:00 PM Welcome and Introductions

    4:15 PM Background Information

    • Introduction to NextEra Energy and Florida Power & Light

    • Hurricane Ian: A Case Study

    • Background on “the Grid”

    • Customer Outreach During a Storm Event

    • Technology Leveraged During a Storm Event

    5:15 PM HACKATHON: Rules of Engagement

    5:25 PM “The Guardians of the Grid Challenge”

    5:30 PM Strategy: Design Thinking

    5:45 PM Teaming

    6:00 PM Dinner, Getting to Know You

    7:00 PM Expert Panel - Q & A

    8:00 PM Let the Hack Begin

    12:00 AM (midnight) Hub Closes

    Friday, 8:00pm - Saturday, 8:00am

    Teams may work on their own at the Hub until midnight, or work elsewhere. Take some time to sleep so that you feel sharp and rested on Saturday.

  • Ideation, Prototyping, and Pitching

    8:00 AM Check-in / Breakfast / Networking

    8:30 AM Expert Panel Q & A

    8:45 AM Hackathon Tips & Tricks

    9:00AM Back to work!

    12:00 PM Lunch & Networking

    Back to work (Students should be working on their final presentations)

    2:00 PM Submit your Pitch Deck!

    Pitches will be 3 minutes, 6 slides with two minutes of Q&A

    Group photos

    2:30 Pitches Begin

    3:30 PM Awards

    4:00 PM Concludes

Only 60 participant spaces available so register now!

Individuals and teams are encouraged to register!

REGISTRATION FULL!!!

Awaken your inner-Guardian!

THE FINAL PITCHES

  • 1ST PLACE - TEAM

    Project Detals

    Team Members

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Presentation

  • 2ND PLACE - TEAM

    Project Details

    Team Members

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Presentation

  • 3RD PLACE -TEAM

    Project Details

    Team Member

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Presentation

  • TEAM

    Project Details

    Team Memebers

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Presentation

  • TEAM

    Project Details

    Team Members

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Student Name, Major(s)

    Click Here

HACKATHON

  • “Hackathon” combines the words "hack" and "marathon." Essentially, a collaborative of beginners, experts, exploratory programmers, or simply the natural “hackers.” A Hackathon is an event that brings individuals together and creates a collaborative and competitive environment for intensive problem solving of real-world problems.

DESIGN/HACK CHALLENGE

  • How might we leverage technology to understand the state of the Power Utility Grid and help get ahead of Customer Outages and Customer Complaints proactively?

PRIZES!

First Place: $400 per team member

Second Place: $250 per team member

Third Place: $200 per team member

  • Provided in the form of gift cards

  • Teams are assumed to have five members

  • Team members must have participated in the entire design sprint to win a prize

The Challenge

Guardians of the

GRID

A Hurricane is headed towards the Florida Coastline, and the “Guardians of the Grid” need to team up to respond!

  • Team together to find innovative ways to improve our storm response plans! 

  • Explore ways to leverage technology to understand what happens to the Power Utility Grid when storms strike, and to help communicate with our customers and restore power faster and better!

How might we leverage technology to understand the state of the Power Utility Grid and help get ahead of Customer Outages and Customer Complaints proactively?

Informational Resources

https://www.fpl.com/ - FPL Home Page

https://www.fpl.com/storm.html - Storm Center

https://www.fplmaps.com/index.html - Power Tracker - outage map

Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QodvD7x409A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D_yOwk_p08

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4IIegYWe4s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aemrq6mHstM

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_zfEC1LqUM

Also, check out the FPL Mobile App – available in the Google and Apple App Stores

Participants, communicate directly with the experts on Slack!

https://join.slack.com/t/fsuhackathon/signup

Your Mission

Harness Your Creativity!

Work in an interdisciplinary team to develop a solution that will improve how we respond to hurricane events leveraging emerging technology.  Your solution should address one or more of the challenges listed above.

Solutions may take any of the following forms:

  • a physical invention or design
    -example: a drone that captures images of damage across the state

  • software
    - example: an app that helps forecast where we may find damage after a storm

  • a service
    - example: providing customers power via a “Community Response vehicle” until their power returns

  • a combination of two or more of the above
    - example: a smart system that insures safety in communities with downed power lines

ANY new and innovative solution to the challenge is valid. Just check to make sure it maps to JUDGING CRITERIA listed below.

Make sure your solution does not already exist at NextEra. To be innovative it must be something new!

Test your solution with specialists and stakeholders at the event. Feel free to test it on others remotely. Gather valuable feedback to improve your solution!”

Develop a Simple Prototype

Visually illustrate your solution by creating a prototype as a visual aid to your presentation. Prototypes vary depending on the type of solution your developed. They include:

  • A storyboard

  • A diagram, floorplan, or other drawing

  • A constructed object made of crafting materials (supplies)

  • App drawings or screenshots (see www.proto.io) that illustrate a users experience

  • A product flyer or website (see www.wix.com)

  • Acting out the solution

  • A combination of two or more of the above

Pitch Your Solution

Develop a 3-minute presentation and slide deck (no more than 6 slides) to pitch your idea to the judges. Include your prototype to show how your solution is utilized. The 3-minute pitch will be followed by 2 minutes of Q&A.

Check out this video on the elevator pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-iETptU7JY

Consider the judging criteria and how your pitch will earn you points in the eight areas.

  • Tell a compelling story.

  • Provide statistics to show you did your research!

  • Show that there are no other effective solutions on the market.

  • Demonstrate your solution with a prototype.

  • Include stakeholder feedback - grandma or grandpa!

  • Practice, practice, practice!!!

Judging Criteria

Scoring: Low 1 - Outstanding 10

PRESENTATION: Stage presence, storytelling, presentation materials (deck), mock-ups / POC, flow, information

Outstanding

  • Team produces a concise and compelling presentation. 

  • All team members were engaged in the project.  

  • Mock-up or POC included in presentation

  • Great job telling the story

Average

  • Some members not as engaged and/or team is unable to answer all questions.   

  • Partial mock-up or semi-functional POC

  • Opportunity for improvement telling the story

Low

  • Presentation missing a lot of information. 

  • Did not demonstrate a clear vision and it is clear that some members were left behind during the project.   

  • Need a lot of work telling the story

 

BUSINESS VALUE:  Idea will generate cost savings, revenue, or has potential for patent

Outstanding

  • Idea will generate significant cost savings and/or revenue. Potential for patent.

Average

  • Idea will contribute to a solution that will generate cost savings and/or revenue

Low

  • Business value not clearly communicated or produces minimal business value

 

FEASIBILITY:  Idea is realistic

Outstanding

  • The idea currently implements existing technologies or could easily use company’s existing resources.  

  • Tech which is implemented is inexpensive. 

  • They have a clear timeline and have planned how current resources can be implemented.  

Average

  • The idea uses existing technologies but would be expensive to implement. 

  • They have a rough timeline but have not thought about specific implementation of current resources.  

Low

  • The idea relies on technologies that have not been developed yet or are all hypothetical. 

  • Implementation would be too far away to consider.  

 

INNOVATION:  How innovative was the idea?

Outstanding

  • Game-changer with potential for high impact

Average

  • Moderately innovative idea 

Low

  • Not much innovation in this project

The Process 

Design Thinking

In Design Thinking we work in interdisciplinary teams to benefit from multiple perspectives and creative processes.

  1. We begin with our “HMW”
    How Might We design a home environment that evolves with the needs of aging individuals to provide the care and comfort they need to spend their latter years happy and healthy at home.

  2. Do some initial Planning and build teams (we’ve handled most of this for you!)

  3. Empathize with the problem seeking to understand it to the best of your ability. This is accomplished by

    1. exploring the challenge through the links provided above in The Challenge section

    2. listening to the presentation at the beginning of the Design Sprint

    3. asking questions of our panel of experts

    4. research and explore on your own

  4. Reframe the problem reducing the scope and finding an actionable area to work on creating a new HMW. For example your team may decide to focus on the social isolation challenge of aging in place.

  5. Utilize Ideation tools to develop new and impactful solutions to your reframed HMW.

    1. Use sticky notes to come up with as many solutions as you can think of, then group solutions by common themes, and select your favorites.

    2. Consider applying solutions from other industries. Think out of the box. How would Elon Musk solve this? How might Airbnb think about this problem? Or Disney? Utilize random words to generate fresh ideas. Take a walk to gain inspiration from a new environment.

  6. Select the most innovative, effective, and feasible solution to prototype and test. Choose a solution that best meets the judging criteria.

  7. Build a Prototype of your solution (see above list of types) and test it on others. Your prototype should demonstrate how your solution is utilized.

  8. Develop your pitch

    no longer than 3 minutes in length

    no more than 6 slides on Google Slides (provide the link)

    Design Thinking Resources at https://www.innovation.fsu.edu/design

SPONSORED BY:

Planning Committee: