Student Competitions: SS12 Code for a Cause

What started as a project for a student competition has ended up as an Android mobile app available through the Google Play store, thanks to the success of five CSUN computer science students. The students, who were initially coached by tutorial coordinator Doris Chaney and later by assistant professor of computer science Adam Kaplan, entered the SS12 Code for a Cause competition, sponsored by Project Possibility, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating open source software for people with disabilities.

After prevailing at the local CSUN competition, where they had just 21 hours over two days to meet, plan, develop the app and build it, they went on to the national competition at CSUN’s 28th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego. There they competed against teams from UCLA and USC, and once again they came out on top.

The winning app is called the Audio Alert System and is designed for hearing-impaired users. It runs in the background using a cell phone’s microphone to detect whether an emergency event is happening near the phone. If it detects a fire alarm or a siren, for example, it can give haptic feedback to the user by vibrating and flashing colors on the screen. It can also notify other devices or people on a user’s contact list. The app is being heavily downloaded on the Google Play store, and the team is continuing to develop it by adding new features.