Hwa Chong Infocomm & Robotics Society

On 27 to 28 January, HCIRS participated in NUS Hack & Roll 2018. Within 24 hours, members have to create a “hack” to present to the judges and other participants. This year HCIRS had a hacking good time producing 4 projects:

BW – Optical Localisation Plus Robotics

Cheap and Simple Indoor Localisation for Collaborative Robotics

Instead of having bots in a play field to act autonomously, a central server with a god view of the play field controls them by dispatching commands to each of the bots. This greatly reduces the cost and complexity of the set up, as each bot no longer needs to be fitted with a wide array of expensive sensors, and the server only requires a camera.

The god view is attained by having unique AR markers indicating landmarks in the play field, such as the corners of the play field, the bots, and objects for the bots to interact with. By normalizing the images detected due to the markers and doing some math, the server can calculate exact movements required by the bots, and dispatch them to the bots.

Read more at: https://devpost.com/software/bw-optical-localisation-plus-robotics

BX – The Scarlet Record

Embark on an emotional adventure through the wastelands as Aoi, an android in a future post-apocalyptic world

The Visual Novel teaches basic to intermediate computer science concepts within its immersive and engaging storyline. Its broad focus on subject areas including Linux, Operating Systems, Networking, Web, and Cyber Security also helps expose players to different aspects of computer science.

Read more at: https://devpost.com/software/the-scarlet-record

BY – Data Transmission using Whatsapp

Out with biased Internet, in with Web in Whatsapp Web

Unhappy with the lack of Net Neutrality in the 21st Century and wanted to change this, this project provide a means of data transmission over a high data traffic network – in the case of this project, Whatsapp. This project shows that even through the whitelisting of specific applications do not effectively restrict one’s Internet access, as one can, just as in our project, make use of high data traffic applications and websites in order to improve their Internet access to lower data traffic ones.

Read more at: https://devpost.com/software/by-data-transmission-using-whatsapp

BZ – Secure Online Sharing

Securely save and share files through distributed secret sharing

The project provide a platform for people to securely store their files. Files are encrypted (with the original file discarded), and the secret decryption key (which is also later discarded) is split into shares which are essentially “keys” that, when enough are put together, allow for the original key to be recovered. Gaining access to the files requires an adjustable number of shares that are combined together to form the final secret. For example, if the number of shares is set to 5 and the threshold is 3, there will be a total of 5 shares to be distributed, and 3 or more are required for the original key to be recovered and hence decrypt the file. This can be used in a variety of ways, such as to ensure credibility and also to make sure that files can be retrieved still even if some of the shares are lost. To further add security, whenever the file is decrypted, the decrypted file is promptly deleted after the user downloads the file.

Read more at: https://devpost.com/software/secure-online-sharing

Out of the 4 projects, 2 won an award at the event. The Scarlet Road won the People’s Choice Award while Data Transmission using Whatsapp won the Platinum Sponsor Sea-pecial Prize.
See you at Hack & Roll 2019!