Our Team – after award ceremony
How it started
Jakob had wanted to compete in a hackathon for a long time, and he also wanted to expand Kirchenfeldrobotics by bringing in new people. So we grew our team to five members, welcoming Nils, Nick, and Phileas.
For our very first hackathon we were quite nervous, since none of us had ever attended one before. We just registered and threw ourselves into a completely new situation. Because we didn’t know what to expect, we prepared well in advance. Everyone invested time in learning new programming languages, and we agreed beforehand that we wanted to build an app — so we practiced and improved our skills before the event.
To keep an optimal workflow during the 48 hours, we organized working shifts so that everyone could get at least four hours of sleep. At the start we had no clue what we would have to hand in, and we didn’t realize how important the pitch would be.
What is Bärnhackt
BärnHäckt is a local hackathon in Bern that brings together developers, designers, business experts, and students to solve real-world challenges in just 48 hours. It’s known for its collaborative and creative atmosphere, where interdisciplinary teams work intensively to develop innovative solutions for companies and organizations. Hosted at the BFH Campus Marzili, BärnHäckt has become a key event in the Bern tech scene, offering workshops, networking opportunities, and a jury of industry professionals to evaluate projects.
Our project was Mealcam, an app that scans your fridge and suggests recipes. You can also filter results and plan meals in a weekly planner. Interested? Check out more details on our Projects page!
How we worked
Right after school we went to the BFH Campus in Marzili and registered. We brought our own Raspberry Pi, screens, keyboards, lots of charging cables, and (or course) noise‑cancelling headphones;)
After the initial presentation of the challenge, we quickly agreed to build something for the Transgourmet‑Prodega challenge. We started working around 8 pm and began our shift system. Nils and Jakob worked until 5 am, while Phileas, Valery, and Nick went home to rest before meeting again at 6 am. Later Jakob and Nils got some sleep, while Nick and Phileas attended the pitch workshop. In the evening we regrouped and worked late into the night.
At 2 am on Sunday we decided Jakob would hold the pitch, so he went to sleep. By 7 am we met again to finish the project. At this point we were exhausted and even had a crisis when our whole project crashed — but we managed to recover it. In the morning we also had to write documentation, prepare the pitch, and record the video. By noon we were still working frantically, but we managed to hand in everything. At 12:30 Jakob started preparing the pitch, and at 1 pm the presentations began. We hadn’t practiced once, so we quickly rehearsed while other teams were presenting. Then Jakob delivered our pitch — with only four hours of sleep and almost no preparation — and it went surprisingly well!
Still, we didn’t expect to win anything…
The Award Ceremony
First the Audience Award was announced — and we were overwhelmed when our team was called as the winners! It was the perfect ending to our first hackathon: we had worked hard and even won something.
But that wasn’t all. The third prize was announced, and by then we were almost asleep. Then the second prize was revealed — and it was us again! We couldn’t believe it.
We knew our solution had technical depth, but we never thought we would win prizes at our very first hackathon. We were completely overwhelmed and incredibly happy that our debut hackathon was such a success!