AF CYBERWORX TO HOLD A HACKATHON TO BUILD A SMARTER PHYSICAL TRAINING PROGRAM
“We’re using this event to fast-track technological innovation to improve the warfighter experience with maintaining and tracking physical fitness and readiness.” - Lt Col Cynthia Brothers
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (PRWEB) June 27, 2018
The AF CyberWorx team will hold a hackathon July 11 - 13 at Catalyst Campus in downtown Colorado Springs. The hackathon will bring together a diversity of people from both industry and military to develop tools which improve the Air Force’s physical training program by incorporating smart and cloud technologies.
“We’re using this event to fast-track technological innovation to improve the warfighter experience with maintaining and tracking physical fitness and readiness,” said Lt Col Cynthia Brothers, Director of Strategic Engagement for AF CyberWorx.
In conjunction with the hackathon, the Center for Technology, Research, and Commercialization is offering a $1000 participation incentive for each team. Further, and at their sole discretion, C-TRAC is authorized to select two hackathon teams to receive a maximum $20,000 collaboration incentive.
Interested people can apply online at http://afcyberworx.org/hackathon. The hackathon will begin with a kick-off dinner and introduction on July 11.
Participants will then have two days to develop and present a prototype that meets the needs of the design challenge – either a wearable fitness application or an autonomous data query tool. Each team will present their solutions to USAF stakeholders and the solutions will be evaluated based on four categories: innovation, quality and technical feasibility, use of data, and presentation.
The challenge for this hackathon was sparked by previous design sprints held by AF CyberWorx. These sprints delved into integrating the Internet of Things and smart technologies into the day-to-day life of airmen and Air Force cadets. Participants homed in on making smarter technologies a part of the physical training and testing program for airmen.
“Smart technology…is meant to improve performance, efficiency, and convenience through the human interface with technologies and processes,” says the AF CyberWorx website. “It allows users to remotely monitor a variety of systems. Smart technology used in this way makes the system more efficient, cost effective and easy to manage.”
The human-centered design process at the core of the design sprints will also drive the hackathon. Participants will be required to design their solutions around the specific needs of people using the technologies. The hackathon brings together both military and industry participants to broaden the groups’ perspectives and challenge assumptions that either group may have.
With a better PT program, the Air Force hopes to improve the fitness and, ultimately, the readiness of its airmen. The Air Force’s goal in incorporating smart technologies is to go beyond merely functional solutions. It wants solutions which create a better experience for users and which can be adopted by the Air Force now and improved upon in the future.
To learn more about the upcoming hackathon or to apply, go to http://afcyberworx.org/hackathon.
AF CyberWorx is the Air Force’s cyber design and innovation center. It educates airmen and cadets while simultaneously partnering with industry to solve cyber problems facing our nation. To learn more about AF CyberWorx and see more of what it does, go to http://www.afcyberworx.org/.
If you would like to contact us, email AF CyberWorx at AFCyberWorx@usafa.edu.
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