Microsoft HoloLens hackathon

In February 2017, Slalom partnered with Microsoft to host our first ever HoloLens hackathon championship. Seven teams from all of Slalom’s delivery centers—Boston, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, and Toronto—came together at Microsoft’s campus to present their innovative HoloLens creations in front of a panel of Microsoft judges, in hopes of taking home the gold.

The teams had put in many hours over the last six months—working closely together, experimenting, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with technology, and having fun along the way.

One team created a HoloLens sous chef, which lets users read recipes and watch cooking videos without touching their phones. Another team created a realistic baseball stadium hologram where users can watch famous baseball plays from new angles. There was also a holographic chess game; an interactive learning experience; a mixed reality famous childhood arcade game; and a multiplayer laser tag game.

And the winner is . . .

The judges had a winner: the Flash Lab team from Houston. Flash Lab is a virtual classroom where students can interact with periodic tables, elements, and common compounds to make learning chemistry more of a game than a chore. Plus: teachers get real-time data on students’ progress through an Azure-hosted web application. Win-win.