Jordan Daily - A team from University of Petra won first place at the IEEE Region 8 Humanitarian Technology Activities (HTA) Hackathon 2026 in Krakow, Poland, outperforming 86 teams from more than 100 countries across Europe, the Middle Daily - East and Africa.
Students Zaid Abu Al-Shaar, Abdulrahman Al-Kurdi and Abdulrahman Al-Haimouni, competing as the VCoders team, received the top award for PalmGuard , an artificial intelligence and smart sensing system designed to detect red palm weevil infestations before visible symptoms appear.
The technology analyzes biological indicators in palm trees, enabling early intervention to reduce economic and environmental losses caused by the destructive pest.
The team said the victory followed months of research and development aimed at turning innovative ideas into practical solutions for real-world challenges, and credited the University of Petra for supporting their participation in the international competition.
