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IDiAL Girls'Day

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IDiAL

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On Girls'Day 2025, the University of Applied Sciences once again made it easy for schoolgirls to get into IT and technology this year. The "Institute for the Digital Transformation of Application and Living Domains" (IDiAL) demonstrated at the Scharnhorst district library how they can discover the diversity of computer science without prejudice and at their own pace.

The event was led by Philipp Heisig, Marcel Mitas and Arkadi Braun from Prof. Dr. Sabine Sachweh's research group, who first gave a presentation to introduce the Girls' Day process. The schoolgirls were then divided evenly into four stations (table groups). At each one, there were different tasks that the participants could choose from and work on at their own pace.

Station 1: Experiments with the "senseBox"

Station 2: Minecraft maze

Station 3: Lawn mowing robot

Station 4: Escape Room "Mission: Digital Rescue"

The fictional story is as follows: The hacker group "Hexacrypt Collective" has set up a supercomputer that produces viruses and distributes them to all devices connected to the internet. This causes the devices to malfunction. The schoolgirls are the only salvation, as they are employees of the IT security company "CyberWatch Global" in a room that allows direct access to the supercomputer and can be switched off. They have 45 minutes to do this. Tasks:

"Data topic": There is a computer in the room that is switched on and locked with a password. The password is written in a hidden envelope in sequences of numbers with 0 and 1. With the help of a table, the number sequences can be translated into numbers and letters and the computer can be unlocked.
"Networking": In an envelope with the password is a USB stick that gives direct access to the supercomputer. When plugged into the computer, a password for the USB stick is requested. A note on the computer says that an envelope with "smart city plans" must be guessed for the password. The plans show how various devices are networked together, for example a parking space sensor and a server to digitally record and display parking space occupancy. If the devices are connected correctly, the connecting lines result in capital letters that combine to form the password for the USB stick.
"Topic AI": The USB stick provides access to the supercomputer. However, a six-digit number must be entered. This is output by a chatbot for the supercomputer, which has been manipulated and initially poses puzzles relating to AI, such as sorting images into groups and specifying the number of images in the groups. Once the puzzles have been solved, the chatbot points out the first match at the Westfalenstadion, the date of which is the six-digit number.
"Conclusion": After entering the six-digit number, a lamp lights up in three different colors. Each color corresponds to a number. Once the numbers have been entered, a combination lock can be opened, which closes a wooden box. Inside is a switch that can be used to turn off the supercomputer.