Sustainable IoT Hackathon (Lappeenranta)

Moi!

Welcome to the ImpactXChange Hackathon 2025!

What's this hackathon about?

The ImpactXChange Hackathon is a 3.5-day journey you students will:

• Learn about sustainability and the importance of smart cities/buildings
• Build a Keyestudio smart home system using sensors, actuators, and microcontrollers
• Program using Arduino or Python (Thonny)
• Design systems that don’t just automate, but actually change user behaviour for the better
• Present creative ideas and demo prototypes

Schedule: Schedule Link

Before you start, fill up the padlet wall to introduce yourselves and do the survey form. Here's the link: Padlet Wall

Without further ado, let's get started!!

Understanding concepts of sustainability, IoT, and smart housings: click here

Please answer the following surveys:

1. Pre-Assessment on Sustainability Awareness
2. Pre-Assessment on Sustainability Impacts

In this hackathon, you are not just automating a system, but you are also building something that shapes how people live.

Behavioral change is about altering habits and routines in a way that leads to long-term positive impact for individuals and communities. Changes can be nudged using smart systems - not by forcing people, but by making the sustainable option the easiest or most rewarding one.

You'll be exploring digital sustainability - using IoT, automation, and feedback to:

• Nudge people toward more energy-efficient and safe behaviors
• Encourage awareness through displays, sound, or haptics
• Reinforce good habits with default settings

Your system should aim to:

• Make good behaviors easy
• Make unsustainable behaviors harder or less attractive

1. Build a system that not only works - but one that influences people in small, smart ways to make better choices automatically
2. Come up with a way to analyze the behavior change

Changing the Behavior
Doing something once is an experiment
Doing it every day for a week is a habit
Doing it every day for a month is a lifestyle

Now it’s time to get hands-on and assemble your smart home system! 🛠️ In this phase, you’ll connect the components in the Keyestudio IoT Smart Home Kit according to the wiring details provided. This step is for setting up the hardware.

Follow the tutorials provided below to guide you through the process and ensure everything is connected correctly.

Tutorials: External Link

After installing the components on the boards, you will now need to connect the components with the processor.

Each component has at least three terminals: G (Ground), V (Voltage), S (Signal). The signal wire is the one that transfers the input and output signal in the system, while ground and voltage wires are for power supply.

The following table is a list of which pin on the ESP32 board that you should connect to the signal terminal of the component.

Design a smart house system which affects the behaviours of residents of a smart city through smart housing using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. The goal is to influence residents through persuasive or motivational approaches. You should compare the behaviours of people in a certain scenario and evaluate the new behaviours or habits developed after implementing your design.

For example, a baseline behaviour would be a person turning off the fan manually, where after automation they don't need to actively think of turning off the fan which changes their habits.

Use this slide template to prepare your presentation.

Slide Template: Day 2 Presentation Slide Template

You should create a page for your group. Click on the link and create a page. This page will be used for you to put in your ideas during brainstorming as well as uploading your presentation slides.

Add more table lines if those are needed for additional teams and members!

Team Workflow Tip: As your team dives deeper into the hackathon, you’ll likely work on different parts of the project. To avoid issues later, we recommend using a version control system like Git early in the coding process.

Follow these tutorials to get started. This system can be programmed using Arduino or Python, so you can choose the language you’re most comfortable with.

1. Arduino Tutorials: Beginner-friendly guides to programming the ESP32 and other components using Arduino. Includes sample projects and tips for troubleshooting. External Link
2. Python (Thonny) Tutorials: Step-by-step instructions for programming the ESP32 using Python and the Thonny IDE. Ideal for those who prefer Python over Arduino. External Link

Note: This firmware might be helpful with python if you encounter any problems with the tutorial above. External Link

Pre-Built Codes Use these pre-built codes to control your IoT.

1. Arduino Pre-Built Codes: Arduino Link
2. Python Pre-Built Codes: Python Link

Explore detailed descriptions of each component included in the kit. Learn about their functionality, applications, and how they can bring your smart home ideas to life. View Components Description

Before you finalize your smart home solution, it's important to think beyond just whether it works. This phase is about evaluating how sustainable your project really is. The Sustainability Awareness Framework (SusAF) will help you reflect on the impact of your system from multiple angles — not just technical, but also environmental, social, economic, and behavioural. Use the slides below to understand each dimension and think critically about how your solution contributes to a more sustainable future.

Sustainability Awareness Framework: SusAF Slides

It is time to present and demo your creation!

You can use this slide as template: Final Presentation

After your presentation, feel free to share your overall reflection during these 3 days. You can share on your learning outcomes, your hardships and experience during this hackathon.

Before you go, we need you to do the following survey:

1. Post-Assessment on Sustainability Awareness Survey
2. Post-Assessment on Sustainability Impact Survey
3. My Reflection

Look at the nerds that prepared this for you !