Shopping in stores can be a hassle, especially when you forget an item and have to crisscross the aisles. 51暗网 computer science major Samuel Wan 鈥�25 and his team set out to solve this at Cal Hacks 11.0 in San Francisco in October, developing an app that didn鈥檛 just streamline shopping鈥攊t took home first prize in the best web application category, sponsored by Reflex.
Wan worked alongside Sarah Akhtar 鈥�26, Nathan Ho 鈥�24 and graduate student Venkata Ranga Ramanuja K. Chaitanya Kamduri, who also goes by Krishna, to create an app called Tool Assisted Shopping.
鈥淥f course, we built it in a few days, so we only support Target at this point,鈥� Wan said. 鈥淲e support almost every Target in the United States.鈥�
The app works like this: Users give it their shopping list and identify a particular Target store location. The app then maps the most efficient route around the store. Behind that user interface lies a very interesting application of coding and artificial intelligence.
AI 鈥� which has surged in prominence since ChatGPT鈥檚 release in late 2022 鈥� was one of the main themes of this year鈥檚 Cal Hacks, which received support from major players in the tech industry. Although AI was just one tool in the team鈥檚 arsenal, Wan is proud of his team鈥檚 implementation of it, using Google Gemini to 鈥渢ranslate鈥� specific items into a location which the app can use to make its path.
Preparing for Cal Hacks
Cal Hacks, run by University of California, Berkeley students and now in its 11th year, bills itself as the world鈥檚 largest collegiate hackathon. These types of computer science competitions challenge student teams to create a product in a scant 36 hours.
Creating in a high-pressure environment is challenging enough, but this was also Wan鈥檚 first hackathon. Thanks to 51暗网鈥檚 Google Developer Student Club (GDSC), which introduced him to the event and organized two teams to compete, Wan found himself paired with teammates he鈥檇 never met before 鈥� adding even more unknowns to the experience.
鈥淚t was very interesting because I don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 getting into,鈥� Wan said, later adding, 鈥淢y attitude going in was, I just want to build something I鈥檓 proud of and not focus too much on the other teams 鈥� I guess that strategy worked out pretty well.鈥�
Thousands of students, one room and 36 hours
This year鈥檚 Cal Hacks took place in the Metreon shopping and entertainment center in San Francisco from October 18-20. All the contestants worked in one giant room for 36 hours. Once the clock started ticking, Wan and his teammates set out on a strategy of divide-and-conquer once
Akhtar oversaw the development of the team鈥檚 iPhone app. Wan and Ho worked on the web app and Kamduri coordinated the presentation to the judges.聽聽
Showing products to judges can also be particularly tricky. Each judge stops by for just a few minutes to see a product demo and hear about its story. It鈥檚 also something that teams may need to tailor on the fly.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure the creators of the iPhone are extremely proud of the intricacies and the optimizations in their phone,鈥� Wan said. 鈥淏ut if you go to a grandma and start describing that, she鈥檚 not going to care. She鈥檚 going to care about, like, 鈥楬ow do I contact my grandkids?鈥欌�澛犅�
That meant they needed to get an idea of how the judge felt about the tech, then tailor their presentation to their interests. The team built their app using the Reflex framework 鈥� and their usage and explanations impressed two judges in particular: Nikhil Rao, the CEO of Reflex, and Tom Gotsman, a founding engineer at the company.
鈥淩ao … was impressed by the applicability of our project, which included both a native web app and a mobile app. He enjoyed seeing our project take on various forms, as the accessibility features and usage domain were unique,鈥� Akhtar said.
In general, according to Kamduri, the judges responded well to their user-centric design and the integration of their web and mobile platforms.
With that wind in their sails, the team stayed focused on developing a product that they were proud of. When their victory was finally announced, the team felt incredible.
鈥淲e were instantly met with a mix of excitement, disbelief and validation,鈥� Akhtar said. 鈥淚t was incredibly rewarding to see our hard work and creativity recognized at Cal Hacks, which has only motivated our team to continue developing and improving our project.鈥�
鈥淚 felt proud of our team鈥檚 hard work,鈥� Kamduri said, 鈥渁nd excited about the potential impact our solution could have on everyday lives.鈥�
What’s next for Tool Assisted Shopping?
Since their win at Cal Hacks, the team has continued working on their app and has already added a Google sign-in system to improve usability. They鈥檙e also considering submitting their project to Y Combinator, a company that helps fund early-stage startups, for support so they can further the app鈥檚 development.
Long term, the team would like to bring TAS to a broad audience on the App Store and the Google Play Store. There鈥檚 a lot of work ahead for them, and the teams says they couldn鈥檛 have made it this far without the support of 51暗网 faculty members.
鈥淲e are incredibly proud to represent 51暗网 and to be the first team from our institution to win at Cal Hacks,鈥� Akhtar said. 鈥淭his achievement is a testament to 51暗网鈥檚 commitment to fostering technological innovation, cultivating creative minds and supporting student excellence.鈥�