Joining the event on personal initiatives, BIMAR employees have won the Hackathon under the theme, “The priority for smart city transportation: Smart transportation systems”, with their “MetroBot” project. The event, which aims to carry Izmir’s rail transport systems onward with innovative approaches, witnessed an uphill struggle for 24 hours.
In parallel with the increase in the urban population, the importance of rail systems in transportation is increasing day by day. High carrying capacity, energy efficiency, environmental friendliness and easy accessibility make rail transportation an even more attractive solution for the crowd of today’s cities. Urban administrations aim to further develop rail transportation by attaching importance to innovative ideas and practices in this field. For this purpose, hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, Izmir Chamber of Commerce (IZTO), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Izmir Transportation Hackathon was held in the Historical Coal Gas Factory with the open data support of Izmir Metro A.S. and the contributions of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. The projects competed during the Hackathon to find solutions for the problems identified by Izmir Metro A.S., the transportation subsidiary of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality which is responsible for the city’s rail transportation systems.
“MetroBot” Designed
The four team members, Pinar Kilinc, Ugur Dogan, Serkan Apul, and Egemen Tunali, all having decided to join the event on personal initiative, represented Bimar, an Arkas Holding affiliate, against the other teams for 24 hours and a sleepless night. The team achieved success by minimizing the experience gained in previous software development processes and the methods applied in software projects that take months for the project in a limited time. The prototype of the MetroBot project designed by the team also caught the attention of the mentors. In the final assessment, “MetroBot” was awarded the Hackathon’s grand prize.
About the Project
MetroBot is a “bot” software that will support Izmir’s subway transportation services. In general, the bot is defined as a software developed with machine learning support that can interact with the user. The interaction can both be verbal and written. The “MetroBot”, designed accordingly, functions as an assistant that recommends the nearest metro station, reminds the time left to the destination and warns the user in case of insufficient balance in the Izmirim card.
MetroBot is seen as a promising facilitation for Izmir’s rail transportation.