Disclaimer: The inventions/applications/technologies used in the jäynäs are entirely made up by the teams.
Fuksijäynäryhmä 11. from Otaniemi was announced the winner of the National Jäynä Competition organised by the Academic Engineers and Architects in Finland TEK. The group’s jäynä (prank or practical joke) involved testing a prototype model of an emotion-sensing AI application. The team used a real EEG cap, which the test subjects placed on their heads, to study the emotions elicited by various images.
The idea for the jäynä was born last summer when team member Leo-Pauli Moisio visited Aalto University for a real brain study.
“That got me thinking, what if we studied the brain, but not for real?”
Despite their name, the team is not made up of freshmen (fuksi), but the name is a relic of their freshman jäynä year. Now competing for the first time in the national competition, the team was pleased with their performance.
“The jäynä got off to a good start and we were learning as we went along. When you have good tools, you gain people’s trust and get fun reactions. This was a feel-good jäynä – that was what we were aiming for – and everyone had fun”, says team captain Lauri Vuorjoki.
For example, the study revealed that looking at a picture of a puppy made the prototype tester feel beautiful, naughty and happy. You can watch a video of the jäynä here (in Finnish).
In their preliminary jäynä, the team examined the speed of revolving doors and measured things like nabla values. The pre-jäynäs of all teams can be viewed on the website of Tekniikka&Talous magazine (in Finnish).
The 32nd Jäynä Competition took place 28–29 October in Pori, with teams from Lappeenranta, Tampere, Turku and Vaasa competing alongside Otaniemi. The teams were given 24 hours to execute, film or otherwise document a jäynä and submit it to the jury of the competition.
The prestigious jury was made up of jäynä experts from different cities, with Chair of TEK’s Youth Committee Atte Sinkkonen from Tampere University as the chief judge.
The Jäynä Gala, where the winners were announced, was held at Tampere University on 29 October.
Awards also to resonance energy and a sleep sensor
In addition to the title of the best jäynämakers of the year, prizes were awarded for the most technical jäynä, the fastest team to solve the driving instructions, and the best pre-jäynä, decided by public vote.
The prize for the most technical jäynä went to the team from Vaasa named “Varo Vaasaa Tutti jäynää”. They wanted to harness the Pori Ice Hall to generate electricity and had developed a system in which the roof beams turn the vibrations caused by decibels into energy. “VVahva Rauta Oy” went to Pori to test a resonance analysis tool they had developed, hoping to investigate whether wood or metal was a more suitable material for the beams.
What this meant in practice is that a test subject would shout into “an ice hall simulator” (aka a barrel) with a beam inside it – the idea was to measure the number of decibels and the energy they generated.
The jury praised the technical solutions used in the jäynä and the code built by the team to capture the audio signal and create an “energy curve”. Watch a video of the jäynä here (in Finnish).
In their pre-jäynä, the team reserved all the facilities at the university for the working group process of “KPK”.
“I made a single HTML file that was displayed on screen. It turned out well,” said Lauri Karjalainen from the Vaasa team.
Team Jäynäcast from Tampere was the fastest and also the only team to solve the driving instructions. Competitors are not explicitly told where the Jäynä competition will take place, but last year’s winning team creates cryptic driving instructions for them. If a team cannot solve the riddle within the given time, the city will be revealed.
Jäynäcast also won the public vote for the best pre-jäynä, with 50% of the vote in the Tekniikka&Talous magazine. Their pre-jäynä tested a sensor solution developed by the company “ManaSleep”, which analyses the test subject’s sleep. During the test, volunteers were asked to make noises and movements as if they were asleep, and the sensor then processed this data. The pre-jäynäs of all teams can be viewed on the website of Tekniikka&Talous magazine.
In their actual jäynä, the team brought an interactive slab to Pori, with an AI narrator that was activated by waving your hand. The narrator shared some interesting facts about the attractions in Pori. Language options were also available: in addition to Finnish, guidance was available in Swedish, English, Mandarin Chinese and Hindi. Watch a video of the jäynä here (in Finnish).
“The driving instructions proved surprisingly difficult, because they were full of mistakes. We had to ask the writers of the instructions about these, but with a bit of brute force, we managed to get the job done,” commented the team from Tampere.
Editor's note: Apparently, there were two mistakes in the instructions.
Health of the people of Satakunta and a special Pori mug were also studied
The Turku team “EP:n jäynä ja tarvike” examined the health of the people of Satakunta in their jäynä and gave locals the opportunity to enjoy some exercise.
In the study by the “Satakunta Division of Sports”, participants were fitted with self-developed wrist and ankle sensors, after which they were asked to play hopscotch. After the hops and jumps, the data from the sensors showed changes in blood oxygen levels, acceleration and foreign trade, among other things. Watch a video of the jäynä here (in Finnish).
The team’s pre-jäynä tested the observation skills of the test subjects as all sorts of things happened during the street survey – even the interviewer’s outfit may have changed along the way.
The team Polytekniset Willimiesjäynääjät travelled from Lappeenranta to find the perfect design for Pori’s very own Moomin mug. Moomin mugs will celebrate their 80th anniversary next year (for real), and visitors to the stand were asked to demonstrate expressions and gestures typical of Pori that could be depicted on the mug. The suggestions included Moominpappa in Meri-Pori and Little Myyteri. Watch a video of the jäynä here (in Finnish).
The team’s pre-jäynä explored whether mallet throw, inspired by the Lappeenranta coat of arms, could become a national or even Olympic sport.
Teams 2024
Otaniemi: Fuksijäynäryhmä 11.
Lauri Vuorjoki, Attepetteri Heikkinen, Ilari Ingalsuo, Tuomas Erola, Lassi Kortesniemi and Leo-Pauli Moisio.
Vaasa: Varo Vaasaa Tutti jäynää
Roni Haakana, Lauri Karjalainen, Miika Vakkilainen, Joni Virtanen and Maaria Salminen.
Tampere: Jäynäcast
Samu Haakana, Jalmari Porali, Arttu Tammisto, Matias Juurela, Oskari Eriksson, Karri Lehminiemi and Daniil Troshin.
Lappeenranta: Polytekniset Willimiesjäynääjät
Tommi Murtola, Erik Kuitunen, Eemil Juntunen, Juho Kaitero and Saana Kuusela.
Turku: EP:n jäynä ja tarvike
Lauri Koivusalo, Tiitus Hannula, Miko Toivonen, Arttu Jokinen, Janne Ranne and Jonatan Järvinen.