The November 1-3 SkyHack Design innovation event hosted by the College of Aeronautics and Engineering and LaunchNet, attracted more than 115 participants from across the country. Copilot, a team of six Kent State University students, took the win for the $10,000 grand prize.
Saroj Dahal, a Copilot team member, inspired the team’s design, telling about his grandparents’ experience flying from Nepal to America. They faced an immediate language barrier not knowing English so Dahal flew to Nepal to assist them in their journey.
“Not being able to ask for help in a different country is terrifying,” Dahal said. “Navigating an airport is a challenge that all new international and first-time travelers face. This prompted us with the idea to create Co-Pilot, a digital application that creates a feeling of comfortability when one may be experiencing the intimidation of navigating an airport for the first time, and the culture shock that can accompany travelling.”
Copilot creates a personalized guide to help users overcome a myriad of barriers that come with first time and international travel. The team brainstormed and brought clear visual representation of the services we want to provide and laid comprehensive plans to address feasibility of application of these services. They created a mock-up simulation of working app interface and produced a video unique to other presentations.
“Team Copilot did a nice job of presenting their idea and demonstrating how each team member’s contributed to the project,” Jackie Ruller, assistant dean, CAE said. “I am very proud of them and I sincerely hope they pursue their idea, because it is very relevant.”
They used photoshop software, found new uses for Powerpoint and learned how to visualize and demonstrate a nonexistent product beyond conceptual phase. The team said they plan to implement their design for real-life application. Altogether seven teams went home with monetary awards.
All winners can be found here.