Category Winners at Coolest Projects International
The seventh annual Coolest Projects International 2018 which took place in Dublin on Saturday May 26th did not disappoint, with an array of Projects across six category areas; Scratch, Websites, Games and Web Games, Mobile Applications, Hardware and Evolution. An expert panel of judges awarded prizes in these six project categories as well as five additional special prizes.
Scratch
Under 11
Scratch a visual programming language which uses a simple interface to help children learn the logic of coding while also developing complex projects over time. This category was kindly sponsored by Microsoft. In the under 11 age group we had joint runners up. Edie McPhilips and Zoe Goodbody received the runner up prize for their project “Daisy’s got talent” which utilised the Scratch programming language to control a lego robot. The two girls aged 7 were delighted to have their hard work recognised after developing the project together in their Dojo in Wicklow Town.
Additionally, ten year old Kian Humphreys was awarded a runner up prize for his Scratch project. The “Bird survival simulator” project was coded by Kian in his local Dojo in University College Dublin. It is a scrolling survival project where you, as Dez the seagull, must explore and hunt on a remote island in the middle of the ocean, avoid pollution and survive long enough to find a mate and hatch happy healthy chicks.
Borislav Lukanov, who traveled from Sofia Bulgaria to present his project “Have fun recycling” in the RDS on May 26th was named the winner of the under 11 Scratch Category. The nine year old’s project describes why we need to recycle and it’s benefits. It does so in the form of a short animation and an interactive game, so kids can have fun while learning about the issue and therefore be more engaged.
Over 11
In the category for young Scratch creators over 11 years of age there was a lot of amazing projects on show. Fourteen year old, Gabriella Jenkins was awarded the runner up prize for her Mario based adventure project which recreated a lot of complex gaming mechanics utilised in the classic franchise through Scratch. She developed the game with her friend, Liya John, in her local Dojo in Taunton, Somerset and was delighted to be able to travel to Ireland to participate in the event.
Kenji Dasal won the over 11 category for his project “Random Games”. It was inspired by the mini-games in an arcade machine. In total Kenji developed six mini-games across different genres including platformer and first-person shooter which function either as single player, two player of player vs CPU. He developed the project over time at his Dojo in Twitter’s Headquarters in Dublin.
Games and Web Games
Runners up in this category were Alexandra Neagu, Noemi Bedreag and Matei Jugănaru, who worked together in a team to develop their project “Second World”. Aged from 10–15 years, the team built their collection of multiplayer minigames for a custom made server in Bucharest, Romania where they attend their local CoderDojo club.
Yuki Mihashi, who travelled from Japan to showcase her project, was named the overall winner of the games category. Her project “Siromaru Candy” is an action game app. Asked about how she would describe the game Yuki noted “Let’s move “Siromaru” and go to the goal. If you can reach the goal, “Siromaru” changes to candy. Let’s play the game and collect many kinds of candy!“. Yuki participates in “Dojo hopping” whereby she travels to multiple Dojos to learn what other clubs are doing so she can learn new skills. She developed this project in the main Dojo she attends, Nakano. The Games and Web Games category was kindly sponsored by Riot Games.
Websites
In the websites category the runner up was nine year old, Tayra Ridvaeva, who was awarded for her project “Tayra’s gift for deaf friends”. Tayra, travelled from Sofia, Bulgaria to share her project after participating in the regional Coolest Projects event there last month. Describing her website she noted:
“My project “Tayra`s gift for deaf friends” is an Interactive software with peripheral hardware for learning deaf children in Centres for Education of Hearing Impaired Children. Did you know that one out of every nine people is deaf? It can be from when they are born or arise at any time after illness or trauma. Children with hearing impairment are not different! They do not need our regret, they need our understanding. Due to that fact and because of that there are a few training materials for deaf friends, I decided to give them a gift.The site includes animated tales with sign language translations, interactive and more. interesting word games, vocabulary, use of the dactyl alphabet for writing names, puzzles, robot games, etc. for easier and quicker assimilation of sign language.I sincerely hope to be able to help.”
The project which was announced as the winning entry in the websites category was Maxim Redmond‘s website to help younger children with Maths. The eleven year old developed his website using HTML, CSS , Javascript, C#, Visual Studio and an Sql server. It allows children to test their Maths knowledge, such as ‘times tables’ and subsequently advise them on which areas need improvement. All their results are stored in a Database to help them assess and see their learning over time. Maxim developed his project in CoderDojo Zero, the first ever Dojo that was started, in Cork City. This category was kindly sponsored by LogMeIn.
Mobile Applications
Aaron and Oisín Groome were named runners up for their app “CosmosAR”. The pair, aged 13 and 15 developed the interactive app that uses Unity3D and Vuforia to bring our nearby planets to life in their Dojo which runs in Accenture’s office in Dublin 2. Using colour-coded cards, the app displays each planet. Users can tap a button to view information about our solar system and it’s mysteries.
The app which was named as the winning project in this category is called “Infinity”. Developed by Liam Mendes and Pawel Konkol in their Dojo in Twitter’s EMEA headquaters. The friends, boths aged 15 described Infinity as “a messaging application for Android. It includes features like extensions, Smart Reply, to predict your next message, and other personalized options.” The app was built with Firebase and the Google Cloud Platform as the backend for messages (the same platform that apps like Snapchat and Spotify run on) so Infinity is fast, safe and secure! This category was kindly sponsored by Dogpatch Labs.
Hardware
The hardware project “Lighten Up” was named as the runner up project in the hardware section. Created by Caoimhin O’Leary who noticed that many vegetables, fruits and herbs come to Ireland after traveling long distances. She developed the project to be able to encourage and control plant growth here in Ireland using LEDs. She developed the project in Tramore Dojo in Waterford.
Selin Alara Ornek was named as the winner of the category for her robot guide dog for blind people, iC4U. Aged 11, Selin travelled to the international showcase from Istanbul, Turkey to present her project to the world. She describes iC4U as “a voice-controlled robot dog that has multiple sensors connected to a mobile app. As it is equipped with GPS and GPRS capabilities it can be tracked from anywhere in the world so that people who would like to locate their loved ones can do so. It can also be controlled manually with the buttons on the special handle. Most of all it is extremely cute”. We couldn’t agree more! This category was kindly sponsored by Raspberry Pi.
Evolution
Evolution looks at more complex projects which utilise a variety of technologies that cross categories, including areas such as IoT. This category incorporates projects which have the potential to be launched as start up ideas and commercialised. Runners up in the Evolution category. This category was kindly sponsored by the Shell Centenary Scholarship fund.
Aodhán Malone, Oisin Smullen, Eoin Smullen and Ferdia Treacy who all go to Mullingar Dojo in Westmeath were named as runners up in the category for their project “Miner Crypto Currency Mullingar Dojo”. The team, whose members are aged from 9–13 made a Miner using some GPU’s, an old motherboard, some cables and power supplies. They built a QRcode scanner using javascript. They also developed a pizza-delivering robot. When mining rewards are collected, they can be used to ‘pay’ for the pizza, which will be handed out by the robot.
Andrei Tudor from Bucharest Nord Dojo in Romania, was announced as the Evolution category winner for his multifunctional message board. Aged nine, Andrei developed a LED-based display for cyclists and pedestrians, making their presence known in low visibility situations. It uses Arduino and RF technology.
You can see winners of the themed-prizes here, and photos from the awards ceremony itself here. Thanks to all our sponsors, the volunteers and all the young people who participated for making Coolest Projects International so special.
Want to start a local club?
Inspired by the creative tech projects young people have built at their local CoderDojo club and want to start your own fun, social coding club in your local area? Register your club here or complete our free course which guides you through the process and highlights all the resources and supports available to start your own club.