Participants at an upcoming Caterpillar-sponsored innovation hackathon in San Francisco will use datasets from the major equipment manufacturer to try to come up with novel ways to drive operating advances. Cash prizes are being offered for the best ideas to come out of the 54-hour brainstorming workshop, which is being held on the eve of the MINExpo 2016 event in Las Vegas.
Caterpillar says software developers, data scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs have been invited to the September 23-25 hackathon – a concept applied widely in the resources sector by Australian “open innovation” group and San Francisco event co-convenor, Unearthed.
A video compiled on the first-place team will be shown at MINExpo, the world’s biggest mining equipment and technology exhibition.
The hackathon format combines creative problem solvers and industry experts who work in teams under time constraints to come up with prototype solutions to industry challenges.
Caterpillar and Unearthed expect teams in San Francisco to create concepts to boost heavy equipment operator performance.
“The global resources sector faces unprecedented pressure to improve the efficiency and sustainability of its operations, and at the same time it will see nearly US$1 trillion of impact from new technologies in the decade ahead,” said Unearthed director, Justin Strharsky.
“We are helping industry adapt by creating opportunities for entrepreneurs.”
Caterpillar Global Mining surface mining & technology division marketing manager Tony Johnson said equipment operator techniques profoundly affected productivity, fuel efficiency, component life and operating costs.
“Our customers spend a lot of time and resources on traditional training activities, but we believe we can augment their work with data, analytics and real-time feedback,” he said.
Hackathon participants will be challenged to probe large Caterpillar datasets and use advice from the company’s available experts to devise ways to improve operator performance, predict potential problems, reward good behaviour and cut machine misuse.
