The second annual Techweek Kansas City wrapped this weekend with a 24-hour hackathon. The weeklong event around innovation and entrepreneurship in tech culminated in the contest held in the Think Big offices. Over the course of one (very) long Saturday, seven teams put their heads together to solve a modern medical problem using Cerner’s FHIR API. Like last year, DSI developers—used to solving pressing challenges with innovative technology—made a big showing.
We’re proud to announce that once again, the winning project came from #TeamDSI.
The seven teams participating in the hackathon made great use of many of the trending technologies featured in Techweek sessions. Hackathon participants dreamed up inventive uses of augmented/virtual reality, robotics, big data analytics and more—and then built working prototypes. Techweek staff members were on hand to provide the snacks and more importantly, the caffeine that fueled some of Kansas City’s most creative tech talent through the night.
The winning team, MediMR, created a mixed reality application for medicine. They constructed a virtual reality (VR) environment that allows surgeons to manipulate 3D renderings of CAT scans to better diagnose patients and better understand how to proceed with an operation. The team also incorporated an augmented reality (AR) solution that allows cameras to incorporate 3D models into patient documentation and into patients’ bodies. As a whole, the MediMR solution provides a visualization of patient information, not only to the patient, but also to each doctor or health professional the patient may encounter in her treatment.
The MediMR team’s presentation had a few standout moments. It included projecting a model of a brain onto a mannequin head using AR, after all, and turning a regular piece of paper into a “living document.” But the highlight of their presentation was seeing a member of the team—while wearing the VR headset—grab a virtual brain with his hands, expand it, and then walk into the virtual brain to see the location of a tumor.
The competition was tough, however, with all seven teams completing working prototypes that present promising solutions to problems in the medical field. The second place team, Nurseaid, created a small robotic cart that moves across the floor and displays patient information as a response to verbal commands. Other teams created solutions from apps that create visibility between doctors, patients and pharmacies to a gesture-based health data explorer.
Were you at #TechweekKC this year? What was your standout moment? Follow us on Twitter and let’s continue the discussion.
