R&S Engineering Competition 2022
In 2022, our solution was awarded 10,000 €, making first place among over 160 participants in the Rohde & Schwarz Engineering Competition.
Context
The Rohde & Schwarz Engineering Competition is an annual event organized by Rohde & Schwarz, one of the leading providers of test and measurement equipment. Students around the world are tasked to provide solutions for an engineering problem, with the best solution being awarded a prize of 10,000 €.EC 2022
This years competition consisted of four parts:- Development of an algorithm to automatically detect pills and empty blisters in microwave images
- Passing tests against unknown images
- Mastering an advanced task (entirely unknown input) to verify generalization capability
- Creation of a video pitch, to convince the jury of the developed code
There were over 160 participants from around the world, and the entire competition was held online due to COVID. We had to participate in teams. My friend and I decided to split up the work into organization and presentation (his role), and implementation of the solution (my role). Of course, we collaborated on many things but mostly stuck to our roles, which worked like a charm.Initial Doubts and Concerns
When my friend told me about the competition, I was skeptical: "So, we are all going to work for that company essentially for free for a month - no, thanks." My plan was to take a look at the problem, see how far I could get within a day's time or so, and leave it at that. My problem (and my blessing in this case) is that I simply cannot stop working on something once I have put in a certain amount of effort.And it Started to Consume my Life
It didn't help that lectures were online, and I could get by, consuming them at 2-3x speed one day of the week. It also didn't help that I got my wisdom teeth removed during the challenge, rendering me couch-bound for at least one week. I went from "no, thanks" to coding away for four weeks straight, pretty fast.Final Thoughts
I would love to share my solution here, but I was not permitted to do so. The big question is: Would I do it again? The answer is no. At that exact point in my life, with those exact circumstances, yes, I would. But I do acknowledge that chance has played a significant role here. After all, I did put in an entire month of my life working full-time on this challenge. I'm in a different place in my life now and simply don't have that kind of time. If you participate, don't do it for the prize. I did it mostly because once I started, I couldn't let it go.