Computer Science students earn HomiHacks Innovation Award

Amit Gyawali, left, Kushal Singh, Kshitiz Hamal and Ashutosh Dahal earned the Technology Innovation Award at HomiHacks April 7-8 in Minneapolis.

Computer Science majors Kshitiz Hamal, Ashutosh Dahal, Kushal Singh and Amit Gyawali participated in the 24-hour coding competition where their creation of “BookUpp” earned the four the competition’s Technology and Innovation Award.

The application is a crowdsource library app that would let St. Cloud State students borrow textbooks from one another, accessing the application by tapping their phone with their St. Cloud State ID card.  

A big problem they solved in building their app is how to make the proximity sensor built into the St. Cloud State ID cards open the app just by tapping it on the phone.

“No other apps in the app store had that availability,” Dahal said. “It was a challenge to get it working, but we were able to — one tap of the card and you’re in the app.”

Beyond the focus on coding, the experience helped the four learn to work as a team, Hamal said.

Dahal agreed.

“It was a good learning experience,” he said. “None of us had been to such an event before. To build a working solution within a 24-hour time frame was a big challenge.”

The four have some more work to do on their app, but they plan to test it next fall.

HomiHacks is a hackathon designed to give intellectually curious students an opportunity to build a product that impacts the lives of others. The theme of the competition was building better relationships.

Aamir Peeran of HomiHacks praised the St. Cloud State team for their innovation and determination in being at the contest. 

“The technology that Kshitiz, Ashutosh, Kushal and Amit built was absolutely incredible,” he said. “It exemplified our theme very well and was the most technically-sound project we saw. … We think they will contribute immensely to the Minnesota Tech Ecosystem and can’t wait to see what they accomplish over the next few years.”