The curtain raiser pre-event for X24 season 5 saw an hour of intense and explosive competition with the promise of a potentially game changing added advantage at stake.
This year each Extentia house was tasked with coming up with a creative SMARTscape backdrop that depicted a theoretical SMART implementation on a macro or micro level.
The houses received a special kit that contained arts and crafts materials. The backdrop was to be created utilizing a standardized 22x22 piece of cardboard and each team had a stringent time limit of 1 hour. The concepts they eventually pitched were as follows:
Spartans – envisioned an interconnected SMART Hub within a city that could not only transmit and receive data from vital elements of infrastructure such as hospitals and schools but could also control vital functions of the same. They also used their backdrop to theorize a centralized rain water harvesting system.
Parikrama – aimed at addressing the problem of garbage collection and waste removal within an isolated community through the utilization of sensors at waste disposal sites along with SMART bins. Also tried to conceptualize the implementation of specialized parking sensors to reduce stationary vehicle congestion in suburban neighbourhoods .
Royal Brigade – pitched the idea of a SMART village/farm that implemented a plethora of technologies such as temperature and humidity sensors, interactive HUDs, water level readers, flood management systems and crop dusting drones.
Unicorns – reimagined SMART technology and its implementation through their conservationist motto of reduce, reuse, recycle and rethink. Promoted the utilization of SMART technology for sustainable purposes.
The Constant Variables – conceptualized a state-of-the-art sustainable city that regulated vital yet aesthetically unpleasant processes such as sewage treatment and waste disposal to a subterranean level below the city. The infrastructure of this city is to be imbibed with SMART technologies such as motion sensitive streetlight/traffic lights and smart watch controlled healthcare and emergency services.
Infinites – theorized a SMART city that bridged the gap between urban and rural areas of a given locale. Aimed to create an interconnected network through which farmers, businesses and everyone in between could seamlessly communicate and remain connected over what would otherwise be significantly bifurcated areas. Proposed the utilization of a direct metro service as well as sensors with the ability to monitor and control vital infrastructural functions of each area seamlessly.
The judges awarded a winner based on five factors – relevance to theme, creativity, aesthetic, use of material, and the pitch.
The eventual winners were:
First – Parikrama
Second – Royal Brigade
And rounding off the top three in a very respectable third – the Infinites!
Congratulations to all the teams and winners, wait and see to find out what your advantage is going into X24: Season 5.
