Teams had just six hours to impress judges with projects on sustainability, health care, safety, mining and industry innovation

Northroad AI’s real-time tool that helps municipalities identify road damage and hazards took first place at the June 27 Hackathon, held at Laurentian University.

With AI-coding platform Cursor as the main sponsor, the event drew more than 100 students, developers, professionals and community members with a challenge: in six hours, build AI-powered solutions for Northern Ontario.

“Participants worked in teams for approximately six hours before presenting their projects to a panel of judges,” Athif Shaffy, one of the lead organizers of the event, told Sudbury.com. “In total, 20 teams pitched working prototypes across three challenge areas: Sustainable Northern Ontario, Health, Safety and Community Well-Being, and Mining and Industrial Innovation.”

First place at the event went to Northroad AI

The first-place project, Northroad AI from developers Deepshika Ghale and Suman Humagain, is a “real-time computer-vision tool intended to help identify road damage and hazards, such as potholes, using cameras mounted in everyday vehicles.”

Second place went to Northern Shift Guard from developers Kaysarul Anas Apurba and Kazeem Oguntade, an AI safety system for Northern Ontario mining sites that uses computer vision to detect PPE non-compliance and fatigue risk.

Agent MindSource, an AI agent that helps diagnose mining equipment and vehicles, then sources the replacement parts from Sudbury-area suppliers from developers Ryan Spencer and Sadikur Rahman, earned third place.

Shaffy, who owns and operates Alpha Nova, a Sudbury-based software company, said other projects explored worker safety, mining innovation, community health, and AI-powered decision support.

The goal of the event, Shaffy said, was to provide local students and professionals “a space to develop practical technology solutions while connecting Northern Ontario talent with emerging AI tools and industry opportunities.”

Click here to learn more about the event.