December 29, 2020 Join Asahi Kasei Corp for a $20,000 Marathon Match!

An all new Marathon Match with over $20,000 in prizes is coming to Topcoder!

Join Asahi Kasei Group, a Japanese multinational chemical group company which owns materials, housing, and healthcare companies, and Topcoder’s Premier Partner TC3 for an interesting problem to solve. 

The mission of Asahi Kasei, is to achieve quality and agility in the field construction operators who are using impact wrenches when connecting pillars and joists. They are looking to our elite data scientists to develop an algorithm that can detect the bolts are correctly tightened from audio data.

About the Problem

Asahi Kasei has a competitive advantage in the house-building industry based on long-term quality strategy. In addition, they are taking various actions such as introducing a system to achieve the No.1 quality in the industry. As a part of these efforts, the aim is to improve the quality of bolted joints, which are especially important in the quality of steel frame houses.

Currently, quality is ensured through the work of craftsmen and inspections by inspectors, but this is being addressed by increasing the skill of workers and the amount of time spent on inspections. However, defects have occurred in the process of work and inspection.

Unlike torque wrenches, electric impact wrenches used for fastening bolts in steel frame assembly can work in a short time, but it is difficult to grasp the torque, and inspection after the work is completed is a must.

This is an issue that not only something Asahi Kasei is facing but the entire industry. They are looking to Topcoder to help contribute to the provision of housing with higher quality and at a reasonable cost with provided audio files and improve the quality and reduce the man-hours required to check bolt fastening.

Competition Details

The match will begin on January 8, 2021 and will run for 3 weeks.

Prizes are as follows:
First place: $10,000
Second place: $5,000
Third place: $3,000
Fourth place: $2,000
Fifth place: $1,000

To read more about the competition and to register, go here.