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The winning group Pharmalytics who created a fridge that monitors temperatures and medicines inside it.

A fridge that monitors medicines takes top prize in Ireland's first hardware hackathon

More than 120 people participated in the event, which saw groups invent and develop a project over the space of two days.

AN INTELLIGENT VISOR system, a sensored safety helmet and a radar collision prevention system for cyclists were just some of the products created at Ireland’s first hardware hackathon.

The hackathon, which sees teams come up with new product ideas and put them together within two days, saw over 120 people participating over the weekend.

The winner was a group called Pharmalytics, who developed and prototyped a connected pharmacy fridge with sensors to help monitor temperature and medicines. The device sends out alerts to pharmacies ensuring medicines are kept at correct temperatures, ensuring that you don’t need to check it manually.

Second prize was Homebox who created a smart package delivery box. It allows delivery companies to securely deliver a package when nobody is home, while third prize went to Eco-pulse who developed a product for monitoring water quality in residential areas not connected to main water sources.

Other products which were developed included a tracking device for valuable objects, wearable devices for livestock, a room temperature optimisation system. and smart sensors for fire safety.

The hackathon was held on DCU Innovation Campus and the winning group, Parmalytics, received a €1,500 fund to help develop the project further as well as a tailored business course and consultations with PCH, a product development service founded by Liam Casey.

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6 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute David Evans
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    Sep 15th 2014, 9:54 AM

    Anyone interested in learning about this kind of stuff (embedded systems/micro-controllers), I would recommend picking up an Arduino board http://www.arduino.cc/

    I learned a lot about micro-controllers outside of college and it’s one of the main reasons I’m working in the job I’m in.

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    Mute Blacksod63.
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    Sep 15th 2014, 11:42 AM

    I wonder what the PSI would think of pharmacies not monitoring their fridges manually? Not a lot, I suspect!

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    Mute Richard Turtle
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    Sep 16th 2014, 1:51 AM

    Blatent plagiarism and should be withdrawn for lack of originality…. we are looking for innovation now copy paste, well spotted Micheal

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    Mute Micheal McHugh
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    Sep 15th 2014, 11:47 PM
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    Mute Micheal McHugh
    Favourite Micheal McHugh
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    Sep 15th 2014, 11:42 PM

    New England Biolabs done this ages ago with Salesforce.com. The fridge feeds data to the CRM and creates orders when stock levels get low in the fridge.

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    Mute robertsweeney
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    Sep 16th 2014, 8:12 AM

    You can see what they did here

    http://youtu.be/7xb2eIiVNQg

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