In the competition, their team, Night Watch, introduced an innovative robot featuring three primary functions: fatigue detection, consent-based intervention, and escorting. The fatigue detection function monitors and detects a user's physical condition, including signs of fatigue, in real time. Once the robot detects that someone is experiencing fatigue or burnout, its consent-based intervention function asks the user for permission before taking further action, such as guiding them to a place where they can rest. Finally, through its escorting function, the robot accompanies users who have agreed to the intervention and guides them to designated locations such as rest areas or other comfortable spaces. The team developed the system using DimensionalOS on a Unitree Go2 quadruped robot.

Journey and Motivation to Compete

Night Watch's winning journey began with Jason's desire to gain experience competing with people from other countries and to learn more about technological developments beyond Indonesia. During the university break in July, he registered for the international AdventureX hackathon in Hangzhou, China. In the first stage, Jason submitted a proposal outlining the innovation he intended to develop. After passing the proposal selection process, he qualified to participate in the five-day competition in Hangzhou.

On the first day, participants were introduced to the competition themes and sponsor expo booths that provided resources to support product development. At one of these booths, Jason met two participants who shared similar interests in software engineering: Joaquin from Argentina and Bacchus from China. The three eventually decided to form a team for the competition. Over the next three days, Jason and his teammates began building and developing a project combining robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).

On the final day, the team submitted and demonstrated the product they had developed. The demonstration was conducted in two sessions. In the first session, the judges directly evaluated the product. The second session involved assessments by mentors and members of the public through a booth walkthrough. The winners of AdventureX were announced later that same day. Jason and his team secured 1st Place by leveraging DimensionalOS features to enhance the capabilities of the Unitree Go2 robot.

Balancing Academic and Non-Academic Activities

As an Informatics Engineering student at ITB, Jason has a demanding schedule filled with classes and major assignments. Halfway through his university journey, however, he realized that it would be a missed opportunity to focus solely on academics without exploring other activities. One way he chose to broaden his experience was by participating in competitions.

Jason began setting aside time to join various competitions, particularly hackathons. For him, hackathons are among the most enjoyable types of competitions to explore. In a hackathon, he approaches challenges from two perspectives: as an engineer and as a builder.

“I often remind myself not to limit the product idea too early—think as a builder. Once I have an dea and become interested in developing it, only then do I begin identifying the constraints, value, and implementation methods that need to be adjusted for the project—think as an engineer,” Jason said, sharing his perspective.

A Winner's Mindset

According to Jason, one of the most important mindsets students need in order to overcome their fear of trying and competing is curiosity. His curiosity continually encourages him to explore new experiences, including participating in hackathons.

For Jason, failure is simply part of the process of becoming better. Through unsuccessful attempts, people can learn valuable lessons, improve their abilities, and develop new skills.

“Keep doing what you're doing right now. Find a team that is fun to work with and willing to struggle together. In Informatics Engineering and Information Systems and Technology, I happen to have friends who are also my hackathon teammates. We've experienced both winning and losing together, and through that process I've gained many different perspectives, from the technical and management aspects to the business side that is also essential in a hackathon,” Jason said.

Reporter: Johanes Wijaya Susanto (Telecommunication Engineering, 2022)