On 13 March, the SPbGASU Faculty of Automobile and Road Building held a hackathon "Transport and Logistics". It was attended by schoolchildren from Saint Petersburg School No. 625 with advanced study of mathematics named after Hero of the Russian Federation V. E. Dudkin. The event was oganized by the Admissions Committee of our university together with the FA&RB.

"This is a career guidance event. Our goal was to show the kids what professions there were and what problems ordinary representatives of these professions solved. We also wanted to show that physics and mathematics are not just abstract subjects. An engineer needs to know them in order to apply them in his work to solve typical problems," explained FA&RB Dean Andrey Zazykin.

The hackathon participants united into four project teams, each of which received its own technical task. Having familiarized themselves with the workplace, materials and equipment, having undergone safety training, the guys, under the guidance of mentors - teachers and students of the Faculty of Automobile and Road Building, began generating ideas and creating prototypes.

One of the teams created a prototype of an AGV. This is an unmanned transport platform that provides automated transportation of goods around the warehouse. The guys assembled a cart platform for moving goods, created, tested and calibrated a program in the Trik Studio software, and showed the robot in action. The work was supervised by fourth-year bachelor's students of the FA&RB Daniil Parfeni and Mark Druzhinin.

Another team, led by the Head of the Department of Transport Maintenance Igor Chernyaev, developed a planning solution for a fleet of electric buses. To do this, they needed the ability to analyze and 3D modeling skills. The guys got the initial data for the calculations from textbooks, tables, and characteristics of electric buses.

Another team's task was to implement the Digital Twin technology on the streets of St Petersburg. The schoolchildren created a digital twin of a road - a high-precision digital map of the route, which collects data on the condition of the road and traffic on it in real time. The guys worked in domestic software under the guidance of Yana Goncharova, an assistant at the Department of Transport Systems and Road and Bridge Construction, and Elena Sorokina, a Senior Lecturer at this department. A team of schoolchildren determines effective methods for interaction between earthmoving and transport machines and the working environment

The fourth team identified effective methods of interaction between earthmoving and transport machines and the working environment. To do this, they conducted a series of experiments with changing the angle of the bucket under the guidance of Senior Lecturer at the Department of Land Transport and Technological Machines Igor Vorozheikin.

Young researchers prepared presentations of their projects and spoke to members of the expert jury, which, together with Andrey Zazykin, included the Head of the Department of Land Transport and Technological Machines Elena Kurakina and Associate Professor at the Department of Transport Systems and Road and Bridge Construction Egor Golov. The jury assessed how well the pre-project analysis was carried out, the rationale for the chosen solution, the achievement of the set goals (teamwork, obtaining a result in accordance with the project goals), the logical structure, the clarity and design of the presentation, the team's performance, and the completeness of the topic. All four teams received diplomas and gifts.

We asked guests to share their impressions of the hackathon and the university.

Elena Popova, Deputy Director of School No. 625 for academic work and discipline, noted: "The children's interest in this practice-oriented event is very high. They gain new knowledge, make something with their own hands, and then systematize and present the results of their work."

"The event was very interesting, and the tasks were not easy. The mentor helped us, explained, gave ideas. And the team tried, everyone wanted to win. It was an interesting experience," said tenth-grader Arseniy Bryukhov.

"I like the university: this is not my first time here, it's like coming home. The people here are friendly, they will always tell you, give you advice, explain. It's cozy, warm, homey," shared 11th grader Ekaterina Nikiforova.

Andrey Zazykin reported on plans to create a specialized class at school No. 625. Currently, the only motor transport class in our city SPbGASU is implementing at school No. 334. Students receive knowledge there that everyone needs - in robotics, information technology, car repair; they will receive knowledge on the organization of passenger and freight transportation, ensuring road safety.