DYSON'S engineers were tasked with the design and development of an intelligent machine last week as the annual 24 hour development challenge got underway.

Around 200 hardware and mechanical engineers from across the UK and Singapore teamed up with software and electronics engineers for the digital codeathon on August 14 where they wrote more than 6,000 lines of code and consumed more than 500 energy drinks.

The groups had just 24 hours to create a machine which would address one of three themes: The Connected Home, Gamification of Dyson Products and Accessiblity through Usability and the winning group in the UK modified a Jake Dyson CSYS light to allow it to draw highly detailed images, including one of the man himself.

Darren Lewis, Mechatronics Design Engineer: “We first converted an image into line paths that a pen could trace. Position co-ordinates describing the paths were then sent from a laptop to an Arduino electronic board which drives three motors controlling movement on a modified Dyson CSYS light. The pen is coupled to our motors via our inventive drive mechanism which uses only one belt to control both the vertical and horizontal movements.”

Other projects included a smart home sensory system able to detect individuals within different rooms using Cluedo algorithms, and virtual reality worlds which used 3D imagery mapping from pictures taken by a drone. One group built an app that allowed it to play I Spy With My Little Eye with the user by automatically selecting an object in a room and sending clues to a smart phone.

Twenty-year-old Gabriel Lim Yiting, an RDD intern in Singapore, said: “I’ve only been at Dyson for two months and I am amazed by the Dyson culture. I had never expected to join an internal event like this. The passion that the engineers have and their dedication to developing remarkable technology is very exciting.”