Cognition Hackathon

Last Saturday, 04/25, I participated in a Hackathon organized by Cognition, where, along with my group and competing against numerous other participants, we managed to secure a spot among the top 5 projects!

Hackathon

In case you reading this don’t know what a Hackathon is, I’ll briefly explain.

Hackathons are intensive collaboration events where people from different fields (like programmers, designers, and other professionals) gather for a limited time, usually from a few hours to a few days, to solve challenges or create innovative technological solutions, such as software prototypes or apps, working as a team under time pressure.

The name comes from joining the English words “hack” (in the sense of programming/creative exploration) and “marathon”, indicating a sort of development marathon.

Group

One of the main reasons I like going to this kind of event is exchanging ideas with people you might have never thought of meeting or talking to.

And this time was no different! Along with my friend and faithful event partner Daniel Melo, we went to the Hacka. There, we met our newest friend and 3rd group member, Aline Cristina.

And so our group was formed: Two developers and a data analyst against the “world” 😂😂

The Challenge

As explained briefly above, Hackathons are competitions where we receive a challenge and have to present a solution.

However, this time it was a bit different! We didn’t receive a specific challenge. The theme was completely free for us to create whatever we wanted. The only imposed condition was the mandatory use of Windsurf (Cognition’s code editor) or Devin (an autonomous software engineer, also from Cognition).

Our Solution

With the challenge presented, Daniel and Aline discussed a common occurrence during their way to the event… — They got lost 🤣🤣

We who live in SP know how complicated it is to navigate in places we don’t visit often. Especially when going to these places involves São Paulo’s railway lines. There are countless transfers, stairs, entrances, and exits. And with all this, getting confused with the path is very easy!

Then our idea came up: MêGui.

MêGui is a smart chatbot for Telegram that solves this problem. It guides the user step-by-step inside the stations using visual checkpoints (reference photos with clear instructions like “turn right in front of store X”), eliminating the confusion of navigating in large and busy stations.

Result

Although we didn’t take the main prize home, we were extremely happy with the result. Being among the 5 best projects in such a competitive event, organized by a company like Cognition, and with so many talented participants, was a great validation of our work and our idea.

Personally, I really enjoy events, whether they are in the technology or entrepreneurship fields. I actively participate in numerous groups and communities, and each event like this makes me enjoy even more the exchange of experiences, the conversations — or as we call it, the famous networking 🤣 — and collaborating to solve real problems.

This event was undoubtedly another proof that, with a good team and a clear idea, it’s possible to create something impactful in very little time. And as a bonus, we also make new friends!

Bring on the next ones!😁