Last month, the Texpo 2025 Hackathon held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe witnessed some of the most innovative tech solutions in the region. Among the standout teams was Caffeine.exe, who emerged as co-1st winners with their groundbreaking low-cost motion capture system.

In this exclusive interview, Angel Matumbura (AM), representing the team, shares insights into their experience, creative process, and future plans.

TR: It’s been a month since you walked away as the co-1st winners at Texpo 2025’s Hackathon! Can you tell us about your experience and what it felt like to be part of the competition?
AM: We’re thrilled to have won the Hackathon! The experience was exhilarating, and we felt a mix of excitement and nerves throughout. Working together under time pressure and pushing our skills to the limit was a great challenge. Seeing our project come together and knowing that we were creating something innovative and useful was incredibly rewarding. Being part of the competition was incredible—the environment was saturated with creativity, laughter, collaboration, intelligence, and friendliness.

TR: What inspired your team to participate in the Hackathon, and what were your goals for the event?
AM: Our team was inspired to participate in the Hackathon because we all have a passion for technology, and participating in Hackathons nurtures and grows that passion. Honestly, we thought it would be fun—which it was! Our goal was to develop a working prototype of our solution focused on creating a low-cost motion capture system for indie filmmakers and game developers.

TR: Can you walk us through your winning project? What problem does it solve, and how did you come up with the idea?
AM: Our project is a mono-camera motion capture system that uses a Raspberry Pi 5 to stream its camera feed to a remote computer for processing with MediaPipe. The system detects human motion and translates it into motion of an armature within Blender. We developed this system to cater to indie filmmakers and game developers who can’t afford expensive motion capture equipment.

Our initial plan was to use just the Raspberry Pi camera, but as time went on, we incorporated more features, such as using a laptop webcam, Pi cam on the same network, or even a phone camera via a web client. This adaptability makes our system accessible and affordable.

TR: What technologies did you use to build your project, and how did you integrate them?
AM: We used a combination of technologies, including Raspberry Pi 5, MediaPipe, Blender, and WebSockets for efficient real-time video transmission. We integrated these technologies by developing a system that streams video feed from the Raspberry Pi or other devices to a remote computer, where it’s processed with MediaPipe and then sent to Blender using sockets.

TR: What were some of the biggest technical challenges you faced, and how did you overcome them?
AM: One of the biggest challenges we faced was getting the web server to work and connecting our phone client to it. We overcame this by focusing on the parts of the project that were working and trying to fix the issues on the side.

We also learned to multitask and adapt to new bugs and challenges each day. A mentor’s advice to build towards a demo and abstract additional features until we had a working prototype was invaluable.

TR: How did you ensure the scalability and sustainability of your project?
AM: We ensured scalability by making our system adaptable to different devices and inputs, such as laptop webcams, Pi cams, and phone cameras. This flexibility allows our system to be used in various settings and makes it more accessible. We also considered the potential for our system to be entirely software-based, which would reduce costs and increase sustainability.

TR: How do you envision your project impacting the community or industry, and what kind of difference do you hope it will make?
AM: We envision our project making a significant impact on the indie film and game development industries by providing an affordable and accessible motion capture solution. We hope that our system will enable creators to produce high-quality content without breaking the bank. Additionally, the data obtained from our system can be used to train robots and other AI models, which could have far-reaching implications.

TR: What are your plans for the project after the Hackathon? Will you continue to develop it, and if so, how?
AM: Our project works well, but we believe it has immense potential for improvement. We plan to enhance the accuracy of our motion capture system by integrating Inverse Kinematics, which will allow for more realistic and precise motion tracking. Additionally, we’ll focus on improving the user interface to provide a more seamless and user-friendly experience. By doing so, we aim to make our system even more accessible and valuable to indie filmmakers, game developers, and other potential users.

TR: Can you tell us about your team? How did you work together, and what was the dynamic like?
AM: Our team consists of three talented individuals, each bringing their unique strengths to the table. We divided tasks based on our skills and expertise, ensuring efficient collaboration. Andile Ncube handled the electronics and presentation aspects, Phillip Madadangoma focused on software development and environment setup, and I worked on the Blender plugin and armature. Through open communication and mutual respect, we fostered a positive and productive team dynamic, allowing us to work together seamlessly and effectively.

TR: How did you handle conflicts or disagreements within the team, and what did you learn from the experience?
AM: When conflicts or disagreements arose, we employed a problem-solving approach.

We’d regularly ask ourselves, “What are our choices?” and then break down the issues to understand them better. By analyzing our problems and considering different perspectives, we’d determine the best course of action. We also frequently sought guidance from our mentors, which helped us navigate challenges and stay on track.

Through this experience, we learned the importance of effective communication, active listening, and collaborative problem-solving.