Last weekend PETAL et al. Team Members, Pamela McMillan and Nitin Khare took home two awards from the ATT FirstNet Response Hackathon held on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Hundreds attended the hackathon competing for recognition, cash, and prizes. The PETAL et al. Team completed a combination of hardware and software product for flood detection. The device when triggered by rising water levels during a flood sends a text message to the user’s cell phone notifying them if their monitored home or business floodwaters are rising to critical levels.
McMillan said this inexpensive device can help prevent hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to store merchandise, factory equipment, manufactured goods, and home possessions by alerting the user of impending destruction to property. The alert can be set to allow time for them to get to their site or send someone over there in time enough to deter catastrophic water damage. The team is still considering whether they want to “train” it into an app or pass on the technology for further development.
In addition to winning the “Best IOT of Things” award with Khare, McMillan also walked away with the “Best App from a Woman Led Team” award during the event. McMillan donated her winnings to PETAL et al.