The twelfth-grade students were the only participants from Bulgaria at the largest youth hackathon in Spain. Students from the Technological College "Electronic Systems" at the Technical University - Sofia: Kaloyan Miladinov - 12 V, Iva Marinova - 12 V, Nikola Sachkov - 12 V, Bozhidar Pavlov – 12 V class, participated in the largest youth hackathon in Spain – HackUPC, which took place between May 2 and 4 in Barcelona.
With over 700 participants, 150 projects, and panel discussions, the hackathon featured a variety of lectures and workshops aimed at developing technical and soft skills. These sessions covered topics such as new technologies, best practices in programming, project management, and more. The goal was to provide participants with the opportunity to learn new things and improve their skills during the event.
The only participants coming from Bulgaria were the students of the Technological College "Electronic Systems" at TU-Sofia (TUES).
The companies supporting the event provided specific challenges for participants to work on – technological cases based on real needs and industry scenarios.
What is the Bulgarian project?
The Bulgarian project TopRack Studio, created by students from TUES, is an innovative tool for planning data centers that combines a 2D web interface with 3D/VR visualization.
What is TopRack Studio?
TopRack Studio is a platform that allows sales teams to design room layouts through a drag-and-drop web application, while clients can view the results in real time through VR goggles – as if they were inside the future data center. This facilitates collaborative planning and makes the process more visual, interactive, and intuitive.
The idea behind the project
Inspired by the challenge from Siemens Energy to create a data center design tool, the team decided to take on the challenge of developing a VR application, even though they had never worked with virtual reality before. They transported a full VR system from Bulgaria to Barcelona specifically for the hackathon, with the goal of learning something new and expanding their technical skills.
Technologies and implementation
The project was developed using the following technologies:
• Frontend: React, Leaflet.js, Tailwind CSS, TypeScript
• Backend: Django, Python, SQLite
• VR/3D: Unity, Meta XR SDK
The system uses coordinates from VR scanning of the room, which are converted into a 2D grid for the web interface. When the layout is changed in the web application, the 3D scene in Unity is updated in real time, allowing clients to see the changes through VR headsets.
Achievements and Recognition
TopRack Studio won third place at the international HackUPC 2025 hackathon held in Barcelona. The project impressed the jury with its technical complexity, innovative approach, and professional presentation. This is a significant achievement, considering that the team developed a fully functional VR application in less than 36 hours, with no prior experience in this field.
More Information
• Project on Devpost: https://devpost.com/software/toprack-studio
• Project website: https://toprack-studio.false-positive.dev
TopRack Studio demonstrates how young Bulgarian talents can create innovative solutions with real-world industrial applications, using modern technologies and a creative approach.
Who are the winners?
1st place MMG: An application that provides real-time flight updates even during power outages by optimizing battery usage for continuous connectivity.
2nd place IndiSearch: A Chrome extension that recognizes clothing in online videos and images, enabling direct shopping and virtual try-on of similar items from the Inditex database.
3rd place TopRack Studio: A web tool for data center planning that combines a 2D editor and 3D visualization via VR, enabling real-time collaboration between teams and clients.
economy.bg
With over 700 participants, 150 projects, and panel discussions, the hackathon featured a variety of lectures and workshops aimed at developing technical and soft skills. These sessions covered topics such as new technologies, best practices in programming, project management, and more. The goal was to provide participants with the opportunity to learn new things and improve their skills during the event.
The only participants coming from Bulgaria were the students of the Technological College "Electronic Systems" at TU-Sofia (TUES).
The companies supporting the event provided specific challenges for participants to work on – technological cases based on real needs and industry scenarios.
What is the Bulgarian project?
The Bulgarian project TopRack Studio, created by students from TUES, is an innovative tool for planning data centers that combines a 2D web interface with 3D/VR visualization.
What is TopRack Studio?
TopRack Studio is a platform that allows sales teams to design room layouts through a drag-and-drop web application, while clients can view the results in real time through VR goggles – as if they were inside the future data center. This facilitates collaborative planning and makes the process more visual, interactive, and intuitive.
The idea behind the project
Inspired by the challenge from Siemens Energy to create a data center design tool, the team decided to take on the challenge of developing a VR application, even though they had never worked with virtual reality before. They transported a full VR system from Bulgaria to Barcelona specifically for the hackathon, with the goal of learning something new and expanding their technical skills.
Technologies and implementation
The project was developed using the following technologies:
• Frontend: React, Leaflet.js, Tailwind CSS, TypeScript
• Backend: Django, Python, SQLite
• VR/3D: Unity, Meta XR SDK
The system uses coordinates from VR scanning of the room, which are converted into a 2D grid for the web interface. When the layout is changed in the web application, the 3D scene in Unity is updated in real time, allowing clients to see the changes through VR headsets.
Achievements and Recognition
TopRack Studio won third place at the international HackUPC 2025 hackathon held in Barcelona. The project impressed the jury with its technical complexity, innovative approach, and professional presentation. This is a significant achievement, considering that the team developed a fully functional VR application in less than 36 hours, with no prior experience in this field.
More Information
• Project on Devpost: https://devpost.com/software/toprack-studio
• Project website: https://toprack-studio.false-positive.dev
TopRack Studio demonstrates how young Bulgarian talents can create innovative solutions with real-world industrial applications, using modern technologies and a creative approach.
Who are the winners?
1st place MMG: An application that provides real-time flight updates even during power outages by optimizing battery usage for continuous connectivity.
2nd place IndiSearch: A Chrome extension that recognizes clothing in online videos and images, enabling direct shopping and virtual try-on of similar items from the Inditex database.
3rd place TopRack Studio: A web tool for data center planning that combines a 2D editor and 3D visualization via VR, enabling real-time collaboration between teams and clients.
economy.bg
