

On March 4th and 5th, join us at MakeOHI/O—the Ohio State University's largest makeathon—for a weekend of building and creating real projects with awesome people. Over 200 undergraduate and graduate students will design, build, and demonstrate projects to a live audience of students, faculty, and representatives from tech companies. MakeOHI/O is put on by OHI/O, a student-led organization that aims to build and foster the tech community at Ohio State University.
Meet other passionate, fun and creative students from OSU and universities across the nation. Our industry partners are also sending professional developers, designers, marketers, and hustlers to provide mentorship. If you're interested in participating, all attendees must adhere to our Code of Conduct.
Here are some common questions that people ask. If you have any additional questions, please contact us at makeohio@osu.edu.
A makeathon is similar to a hackathon. Both are events where participants build awesome projects from scratch in just a few short hours. The difference between a MAKEathon and a HACKathon is that we are encouraging projects to be maker-oriented, and therefore physically making something!
Anyone who is a student at a university! We encourage all levels of expertise to join. Whether this is your first makeathon, or you've been to other make- or hackathons across the nation, MakeOHI/O provides an opportunity to collaborate and create something amazing. All participants are expected to follow our Code of Conduct.
Registration open from now until March 3rd! If you want to be eligible to receive a hardware kit, you must register and have a team before the event. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to registerhackohio@gmail.com.
Teams make all sorts of things! Previous projects have included mobile apps, websites, smart mirrors, light-up glasses, pancake printers...the possibilities are endless. Hardware will be provided. Please see the hardware page for details on what hardware will be available at the event. Hardware will be available at the event venue during the event.
MakeOHI/O is free to participate in! We want all students to have an opportunity to work on projects with hardware, which is why we’re also providing free hardware kits for MakeOHI/O.
All participants should be in teams of 2 to 4, but don't worry if you're coming in without a team. OHI/O provides opportunities before and during the makeathon to find a team. Team formation will be ongoing in the Discord server up to the event. We will post more information on team formation on our event website and in Discord but step one is to register for participation.
Nope! Many students come up with an idea while at the makeathon or by addressing one of our proposed challenges. By talking to fellow students you'll find opportunities to brainstorm ideas that pique your interest. you get stuck, we'll have a nice list of ideas to help you out. This year, we recommend discussing possible ideas with your team before kit pickup opens so that you have a better idea of what hardware to choose for your kit.
Yes! We welcome individuals with knowledge and expertise in various topic areas to help mentor students at MakeOHI/O. If you're interested, please contact us to find out more information!
MakeOHI/O is proud to have dozens of judges consisting of academia, industry professionals, and alumni. On Sunday, participants will create a 4 min video demonstration of their project and submit it for judging. More details on how the submission process works will be given closer to the event. Remember - the competition is only a small part of the event! The most important part is to have fun and build something amazing.
Even something as small as a relay controlling a lamp being on could be hazardous with exposed wires. For safety reasons, projects involving high voltage such as Tesla coils, jacob's ladders, or plasma speakers are discouraged. If you are unsure if your project will be allowed, please ask! We reserve the right to shut down any projects that we deem as unsafe. We want the event to be awesome and electrocution or other physical injury is not so great. Please bring your own fuses if you intend on working with the mains or otherwise high voltage project. Railguns, coil guns or any other projects with weapons are prohibited. Projects such as an induction furnace are similarly prohibited for an obvious fire hazard. For more information regarding what technical resources are allowed, click here!
MakeOHI/O is hosted by OHI/O and the Electronics Club here at OSU. You can find more information about OHI/O and our other events at https://hack.osu.edu.
Here are this years sponsor challenges! These are optional challenges given out to participants for extra prizes.
Sustainable Mobility Challenge [PDF]
Description: Find a solution that improves a current issue in the spirit of sustainable
mobility.
Prize: 1 $500/$300/$200 Amazon gift card split amongst team members for the 1st/2nd/3rd
place team
Reflected Light Challenge [PDF]
Description: Determine if it is possible to capture reflected light with a solar panel
and, if so, what provides the best surface for reflecting light.
Prize: Up to 4 $250/$100/$50 Amazon gift cards for the 1st/2nd/3rd place team.
Preventing Human Contamination in a Clean Room Challenge [PDF]
Description: Propose a cleanroom garment and/or device that Intel can use today and into
the future to prevent human elemental contamination of cleanroom space.
Prize: Up to 4 $100/$50/$25 gift cards + headphones & Intel swag for the 1st/2nd/3rd
place team.
Time | Event |
9:00 AM | Check in starts (if in person) |
10:00 AM | Opening Keynote |
11:00 AM | MAKING BEGINS |
2:30PM | Lunch Served |
3:00 - 4:00 PM | Meet the Buckeye AutoDrive Team (Room 250) |
7:00PM | Dinner Served |
Time | Event |
1:00-7:00AM | No Re-Entry to Knowlton Hall |
9:00 AM | Breakfast Served |
11:00 AM | MAKING ENDS AND VIDEO SUBMISSION DEADLINE |
12:00 - 2:00 PM | Judging |
1:00 PM | Lunch Served |
3:00 PM | Showcase Begins |
Solar Wind Turbine
Our team's idea was that by adding solar cells onto the surface of wind turbine blades, the
turbine's overall efficiency could increase. The nominal power generated from the solar
cells from the albedo radiation and direct sunlight could be used to power the wind
turbines' control systems.
Car Crash Prevention
Use wireless communication to share telemetry data between vehicles to help make vehicles safer
and more efficient. Made a scale model of the system using WiFi-connectivity and computer
vision.
Smart House
A program and mock house that simulates better methods to cool down or warm up specific rooms in
a house, with an end goal of reducing energy and cost of heating/cooling in residential
buildings.
Artemis Prime + SAR
Search and Rescue Vehicle and autonomous drone that supports people during hazards.
Solar Cell Materials Testing
Performed reflective sunlight voltage comparisons based on materials, designed solar cell
improvement prototype based on results
Intuit
"Intuit is a world-sensing platform geared towards assisting the visually impaired gain freedom
from
reliance on others. Designed to be a companion alongside their existing capabilities, Intuit
allows
users to experience the physical world in a unique way by transforming the white cane experience
to
a more immersive environment, without the need for fancy software or bulky equipment.
Utilizing low cost and highly accurate time of flight sensors and no cameras, Intuit can
perceive
obstacles in the area around an individual, and transform this to feedback provided through
haptic
engines on the individuals body. This also allows Intuit to assist the armed forces, informing
them
of potential threats looming behind or to their side.
Thus, Intuit can be a wear-and-go solution to not only assist with mobility but also give us all
the
"Spidey-Sense".
Car Crash Prevention
Use wireless communication to share telemetry data between vehicles to help make vehicles safer
and more efficient. Made a scale model of the system using WiFi-connectivity and computer
vision.
Auto Mirror and Visor
Use face detection to auto adjust rearview mirror and photoresistors to automatically pull down
sun visor when requisite angle is detected.
Solar Wind Turbine
Our team's idea was that by adding solar cells onto the surface of wind turbine blades, the
turbine's overall efficiency could increase. The nominal power generated from the solar cells
from the albedo radiation and direct sunlight could be used to power the wind turbines' control
systems.
Sunny Side Up
In order to determine whether it is possible to convert reflected light to electrical energy, we
created a working solar-panel-boarded model that moves around a field and measures the voltage
of the solar panel capturing the reflected light. We tested on several materials including
mirrors, paper, rocks, rice, etc and determined the best materials to use as a reflectance
surface. We also implemented a dual axis tracking system to dynamically rotate the solar panel
in response to changes in the angle of the sunlight to obtain the largest efficiency of solar
energy conversion.
Solar cells tiling
AEP Solar cell efficiency with mirrors
Intel Cleanroom Garment Upgrades
In this project, we provide solutions to existing problems and an innovation to the Intel
cleanroom garment.
ChargeGuard
A wireless, wearable electro-static discharge tracking alert system.
CoolVest
We have designed a Cooling Vest for employees working in cleanrooms. Cold water is kept in a
small pouch that the user wears like a backpack underneath the cleanroom suit. A motor was used
to pump water through pipes along parts of their torso to keep the user cold. The motor was
meant to be activated by flipping a switch but due to the lack of a powerful enough battery, an
outlet had to be used instead of our circuit. Our design was made for use by both men and women,
targets the elimination of contamination from heat such as sweat, and also aims to allow
employees to enjoy their jobs more by getting rid of the frustrations of heat and sweat while
wearing the suit. It took less than 30 seconds to wear the vest once it was adjusted to the
user's size. Possible improvements to this project in the future would definitely be to get a
more powerful motor. Ours was able to pump water through the system but had difficulty when air
pockets were introduced when draining out the water. In addition, getting a more powerful
battery to be able to interface the power supply with our switch circuit as well. All in all, we
are very proud of everything we learned about fluid dynamics and motor usage while working on
this project. It was something new for both of our fields and out of our comfort zones so we
learned a lot! I hope you guys enjoy it :)
MakeOHI/O 2023 is set to be March 4th - 5th! Join us for our virtual makeathon as we give students the unique opportunity to receive hardware and develop projects from the safety of their homes.
Mentors will assist participants throughout the event with any questions or concerns they may have while creating their project.
Judges will help us score teams on March 5th 10:00AM - 2:00PM by reviewing their projects in the form of a video submission and scoring them. Judging will be virtual this year.
More details including schedules, logistics, and how to join our event space will be distributed at a later date to those who have signed up.
If you are interested in becoming a mentor, judge, and/or sponsor company representative, please fill out the form! Available here or the button above.