Navi Founder Nikola Kostic kicks off the Hackathon

Navi Founder Nikola Kostic kicks off the Hackathon

Jordi Vila talks about his role at NASA searching for alien life.

Jordi Vila talks about his role at NASA searching for alien life.

A group of Engineers planning their hackathon project

A group of Engineers planning their hackathon project

Introduction

Nikola Kostic (Founder of Navi) and Christian Bailey (Chief Scientist, Curated Innovation) organized an aerospace hackathon on Saturday, April 6th. The primary focus was on leveraging Large Language Models to improve aviation safety and efficiency.

Hosted at the AGI house, in Hillsborough, CA, this day-long event has become a hub for AI engineering worldwide. The event started with experts from the Aviation, AI, and Space industries giving talks on various challenges they currently face. These talks aimed to inspire participants about what they could build during the event.

The hackathon was a resounding success, attracting a passionate crowd of AI software, aerospace, and mechanical engineers from tech giants like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon. We also welcomed aerospace students from Stanford and Berkeley, representatives from venture capital firms, pilots, and flight instructors. Leaders and representatives from the Berkeley Flying and Stanford Aerospace communities alongside organizers from the NASA Space Apps hackathon hosted at the Ames Center and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, as well as representatives from the FAA Safety Team.

Participants were invited to share their ideas on stage, leading to the formation of teams comprising 2-4 individuals. These teams combined various domain expertise to address the problems. They had just six hours to develop prototypes. The innovative solutions and what was achievable in such a short time by some of the industry's best minds were astounding. The winners received flight lessons in the R44 helicopter and Cirrus SR20 airplane at the San Carlos airport.

Event Organizers

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Nikola Kostic - Founder Navi - Sponsor/Organizer

Nikola is a pilot, software engineer, serial entrepreneur, and lifelong aviation enthusiast. His startup, Navi, based in San Francisco, CA, is developing groundbreaking technology that uses LLMs to enhance the safety, training, and proficiency of pilots. Currently, Navi is in stealth mode and is planning its first release to the public in June this year. The Navi team comprises pilots, top flight instructors, and engineers from Google, Facebook, MIT, and Carnegie Mellon.

gonavi.ai | Linkedin

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Christian Bailey - Inventor Curated Innovation - Organizer

Christian Bailey, Co-Founder and Chief Scientist at Curated Innovation, is recognized for his contributions to aerospace. He collaborates with startups like Regent Craft, Venus Aerospace, and ZeroAvia, creating innovative technologies and building substantial IP portfolios. Not only is Christian an active airplane and helicopter pilot, but he's also a flight instructor and aircraft builder. After studying aerospace as a Fellow at MIT, he remains dedicated to making notable inventions in aviation.

curatedinnovation.org | [email protected] | Linkedin

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AGI House

The AGI House is a community of individuals who are dedicated to advancing the field of artificial intelligence.

Their vision is to create a new era of innovation and discovery in the field of AI, one that is driven by collaboration and a commitment to understanding the implications of this technology. AGI House serves as a hub for the most ambitious and thoughtful minds in the field, providing a space where they can come together to share ideas, challenge one another, and explore the potential consequences of AI.

agihouse.org | Founder Rocky Yu

Event Stats

Generated word cloud of event attendees and their domain expertise

Generated word cloud of event attendees and their domain expertise

A team of Stanford engineers and a Boeing 777X test pilot pitch an augmented simulator trainer

A team of Stanford engineers and a Boeing 777X test pilot pitch an augmented simulator trainer

Software Engineer explaining their concept to another participant

Software Engineer explaining their concept to another participant