Wednesday 5 September 2018

 

HACK MANCHESTER 2018 Challenge

Thales

Thales is a multi-national engineering company with five main business areas: Defence, Aerospace, Ground Transportation, Space and Security. At Thales we are constantly trying to master the undersea environment, which includes identifying mines in the world’s oceans.
To achieve this we produce minehunting sonar, autonomous minehunting vessels and command systems. These can identify mines, which the Navy can then detonate in a controlled way making shipping lanes and harbours safer.
These products are used by Navies all over the world.

The Challenge

Phone and web applications are common place in our daily lives, but not yet used by military personnel when doing missions. Your challenge is to come up with a prototype app that will alert an operator to a nearby threat, for example a mine or another submarine (this could be simulated by a sensor or some other input).
Extended: What other features could this app have to help navy personnel while working? Let your imagination go wild!
The judge will be looking for:
  • Teamwork
  • Innovation
  • the finished product
  • Your progression of skills over the two days

The Prizes!

4 x Wireless Bluetooth Speakers!

The Judge

I am Marianne Giles and will be judging the Thales Challenge at the event. I am a Software Engineer working on Autonomous Minehunters, after getting a ‘BEng Computer Science with Industrial Placement’ from the University of York. I have worked in a wide range of roles in the company from coding to helping install systems on the ships, mainly focusing on delivering sensors for minehunters.
As a judge I will be looking for teams who are thinking outside of the box, having fun and showing me how you reached a solution through teamwork!