Last December, students Yanick José Medina Ruiz (Master in Artificial Intelligence) and Pablo Menéndez-Morán, Myriam Collada Muñoz and Ignacio Lucena(Degree in Design and Development of Video Games and Virtual Environments) from UDIT, University of Design, Innovation and Technology, won first prize in the first edition of IndesIAhack. This university hackathon recognised the best Artificial Intelligence solution among 24 projects, developed by more than 100 students from 9 universities and vocational training centres, with the support of companies such as Airbus, Gestamp, ITP Aero, Telefónica, Repsol, Navantia and Ferrovial.
The teams faced the challenges posed by these companies, covering sectors such as construction, automotive, energy and engineering. The UDIT team, awarded 2,000 euros by Microsoft, presented an innovative solution to the challenge posed by Ferrovial, by developing an Artificial Intelligence model capable of analysing the weather conditions of the environment, through the traffic cameras installed by the company on Spanish roads. This model optimises the accuracy of the cameras, enabling them to identify vehicles and read their number plates even in adverse weather conditions such as rain, snow or fog.
A key part of the project was the creation of a simulator programmed in Unreal Engine, which recreates various weather conditions, timetables and visibility levels, which was essential to validate the effectiveness of the model.
UDIT has had the opportunity to interview some of the students who were part of this project and has delved into how they faced the challenges of the hackathon and how their collaborative work and ingenuity were key to winning.
Yanick José Medina: "Some tasks are impossible to solve with traditional algorithms".
"What attracts me most about Artificial Intelligence is how it is changing the rules of the game. Before, AI was good for specific tasks, like classifying images. But now, with language models like ChatGPT, they can solve a lot of problems without being specifically trained to do so," explains Yanick José Medina, the only member of the team with an AI background.
Yannick, who already works as a data scientist, decided to take the Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence at UDIT after completing his undergraduate studies and realising that "some tasks such as autonomous driving are practically impossible to solve using traditional algorithms. This sparked my curiosity about how AI works and how it solves complex problems.
"Participating in the hackathon was amazing and working on a real Ferrovial problem made it even more interesting," he explains, although "the most difficult part was evaluating our model without enough data, so I think the development of the simulator was the most innovative part of the solution. Moreover, as a great believer in the enormous possibilities of AI, he is convinced that "in five years it will be the key to solving problems that still have no solution, such as finding cures for diseases".
Myriam Collada: "I want my video games to have an impact on people".
For Myriam Collada, technology and the curiosity to set up all kinds of projects has been a constant in her life. "Since I was a child, I have been taking all kinds of courses, from application development to robotics", she says.
Passionate about video games ("I would like the video games I make to have an impact on people"), she considers that participating in the challenge posed by IndesIA has been "a very enriching experience, which has allowed us to understand how companies as important as Ferrovial work".
He acknowledges that the main obstacle he had to overcome was not having specific knowledge of artificial intelligence, but that in the end they managed to develop a solution adapted to their capabilities.
Regarding the potential that this technology already offers, he concludes that "it is a great help for all kinds of sectors, as it saves a lot of time in repetitive and costly tasks, but it should be used for what it is: a tool and not a cheap option to replace human work".
Ignacio Lucena: "In five years AI will become a natural part of our lives".
Ignacio Lucena began his university studies with a degree in Telecommunications Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Madrid. However, after three years of training he came to the conclusion that, in reality, this was not the professional future in which he wanted to develop: "I decided to change my career path because I did not feel fully realised. After a year working, I discovered the Degree in Design and Development of Video Games and Virtual Environments at UDIT. It was a very wise change, as it combines technology and creativity in a way that fits my profile perfectly".
Recalling his participation in the IndesIA hackathon, he says that from this experience he took away "a broader vision of how complex problems can be tackled in a professional environment and how companies in our country work". Of the work with Ferrovial, he highlights the mentoring they received: "they guided us enough to keep us on course towards the final objective without limiting our creativity".
"Not having experience in artificial intelligence forced us to think 'out of the box', to look for more accessible but equally effective solutions, to be very creative and decisive. Convincing the judges with a solid and functional proposal, without resorting to an overly complex AI model, was undoubtedly our main challenge," he explains.
When approaching an AI project, he stresses that what interests him most "is its ability to optimise and streamline processes. In five years' time, I envision a world in which AI will be even more pervasive, with models capable of integrating naturally into our daily lives. Businesses that fail to adapt to this change will struggle the most.