Student hackers forge health care solutions at 1819 Innovation Hub

RevUC Hackathon inspires students to think about transformative technologies

The University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub hosted the 13th annual RevolutionUC Hackathon.

Three standout teams emerged victorious, showcasing groundbreaking solutions to pressing challenges, including health care. The event was a testament to the power of innovation and compassion.

As one of Ohio's oldest and largest student-run hackathons, RevolutionUC is organized by the Association for Computing Machinery at UC and supported by the UC Center for Entrepreneurship. It is open to all college and high school students across the region, regardless of major or programming background.

Student hackathons are fertile grounds for innovation, fostering collaboration, creativity and problem-solving skills among aspiring entrepreneurs and technologists.

RevUC offers UC students of all majors and technical backgrounds the opportunity to experiment and test their innovative ideas in a fun and supportive environment while also taking advantage of the mentorship from leading industry partners who were on-site exposing students to the latest technology that corporate America offers.

Kate Harmon Assistant vice president of the 1819 Innovation Hub, executive director of the UC Center for Entrepreneurship

"RevUC offers UC students of all majors and technical backgrounds the opportunity to experiment and test their innovative ideas in a fun and supportive environment while also taking advantage of the mentorship from leading industry partners who were on-site exposing students to the latest technology that corporate America offers," said Kate Harmon, assistant vice president in the 1819 Innovation Hub and executive director of the UC Center for Entrepreneurship.

Judges scored projects based on creativity, technical depth, challenge of the work and usefulness in the real world.

The following three student teams captivated RevolutionUC judges and spectators alike with their transformative projects aimed at revolutionizing medical care:

CHAAP: A Chrome extension that can communicate with any webpage
PhizzIO: Empowers patients through interactive physiotherapy
Memento Assistant: Pioneering solution for patients with cognitive decline

With analytical thinking and problem-solving among the most in-demand job skills today, hackathons give students a jumpstart into their future success. Participants are encouraged to push the boundaries of traditional thinking, igniting a spirit of ingenuity that can yield transformative solutions.

Hackathons are a crash course in solving problems quickly. Nowhere is this potential more evident than in health care.

With their pioneering solutions, the following student innovations pave the way for a brighter, more inclusive future. Each team harnessed their diverse perspectives and collaborative talents to maximize the use of artificial intelligence to improve the lives of others.

CHAAP

Four people stand in front of a screen that reads "first place."

Team CHAAP: Jack McKain, Bek Dukenbaev, Arnav Chandra Komaragiri and Andrew Gerstenslager. Photo/RevUC

CHAAP co-founders: Jack McKain, Bek Dukenbaev, Arnav Chandra Komaragiri and Andrew Gerstenslager

Winner: First place overall
Winner: Best use of AWS
Winner: Best data science and analytics hack (fortified data)

Rooted in a profound understanding of data constraints, Chat With Any Anonymous Page (CHAAP) seamlessly interacts with any webpage and employs sophisticated reasoning capabilities. Motivated by a dedication to maintaining stringent privacy standards while optimizing functionality, the solution was conceived and executed as a Chrome extension with an innovative and proprietary HEMLock algorithm to safeguard user data and privacy.

The hallmark of CHAAP lies in its versatility, facilitating conversations with countless language model systems, from AWS to OLLaMA to GPT, transcending the boundaries of conventional chatbot functionalities.

Team CHAAP integrates diverse technologies, leveraging frameworks like Tembo for RAG, AWS for LLM inference and HuggingFace alongside Presidio for robust anonymization.

Looking ahead, Team CHAAP envisions a future brimming with possibilities. It plans to integrate image capabilities, fortify anonymization measures and explore the potential of a decentralized protocol for language model routing.

PhizzIO

Two people stand in front of a screen that reads "second place."

Team PhizzIO: Joe Kuncheria Panjikaran and Aniruddhan Ramesh. Photo/RevUC

PhizzIO co-founders: Joe Kuncheria Panjikaran and Aniruddhan Ramesh

Winner: Second place overall
Winner: Parkinson's Together Synapse Sprint

For Team PhizzIO, the catalyst for bridging the communication gap between patients and physiotherapists arose from Panjikaran's struggle with recovery after tearing his ACL. The solution was to create an interactive platform that guides, monitors and motivates patients throughout their rehabilitation journey.

PhizzIO honed their expertise for their startup as cohorts of the UC Venture Lab program located inside the 1819 Innovation Hub. Their innovative patient analytics dashboard features an advanced "proper body form" guide to accurately screen and track patients' movements, delivering real-time feedback aligned with personalized treatment goals. The technology empowers individuals to confidently adhere to and perform exercises, eliminating barriers such as wait times and geographical constraints.

PhizzIO remains committed to enhancing the quality of care for patients undergoing rehabilitation. It plans to integrate AI chatbots and expand its dataset of physiotherapy exercises in the future.

Memento Assistant

Four people stand in front a screen that reads "third place."

Team Memento Assistant: Grant E. Kilgard, Raihan Rafeek, Kaaustaaub Shankar and Arya Garg. Photo/RevUC

Memento Assistant co-founders: Grant E. Kilgard, Raihan Rafeek, Kaaustaaub Shankar and Arya Garg

Winner: Third place overall
Winner: Best social impact hack
Winner: Best digital solution to improve the clinical trial process (Medpace)
Winner: Best use of Postgres (Tembo)

The journey toward victory was deeply personal for Team Memento. Inspired by Kilgard's familial experience with Alzheimer's disease, the team embarked on a mission to address the unmet needs of patients and caregivers. Their brainchild, Memento, is an app-based integration for patients and caregivers designed to serve as a digital journal for individuals grappling with degenerative cognitive diseases.

Memento's intuitive interface and AI-powered assistant seamlessly integrate journal entries, images, audio recordings and geographic locations, creating a comprehensive repository of memories. This innovative platform fosters patient independence and structure and facilitates communication between caregivers and health care providers. Leveraging AI algorithms, Memento delivers personalized responses and insights, enriching the lives of those affected by Alzheimer's.

Looking ahead, the team envisions expanding Memento's capabilities, integrating support for additional data types and sensory stimuli. With aspirations to create an iOS version and enhance collaboration with health care providers, Team Memento remains at the forefront of innovation in Alzheimer's care.

The accomplishments of CHAAP, PhizzIO and Memento at the RevUC Hackathon stand as a testament to the transformative potential of technology in health care and beyond.

Featured image at top: UC hosted the 13th annual RevolutionUC Hackathon. Photo/provided

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Student hackers forge health care solutions at 1819 Innovation Hub