The 2018 Hackaday Prize has launched

Posted on March 21, 2018 by R-B Leave a comment |

The 2018 Hackaday Prize has been announced. This is the fifth contest of the annual Hackaday Prize series and is jointly sponsored by Digi-Key and Supplyframe. This year’s challenge to the hardware hackers across the globe is to “Build Hope” through open source hardware projects. Over the past 4 years, the Hackaday Prize contest has already given away nearly $1 million to the innovative makers who contributed towards building awesome stuffs to make this world a better place. This year has following 5 themed challenges that run in series:

Hardware Design Challenge: 3/12 – 4/23
Robotics Module Challenge: 4/23 – 6/4
Power Harvesting Challenge: 6/4 – 7/16
Human – Computer Interface Challenge: 7/16 – 8/27
Musical Instrument Challenge: 8/27 – 10/8
The Hackaday 2018 Prize has launched

The first round of the competition is the “Open Hardware Design Challenge,” where entrants are encouraged to design the boldest plan they can dream up. Prototypes are not necessary for this challenge – only pictures, charts and theory are required. The Open Hardware Design Challenge kicks off today and runs through April 23.

The remaining rounds are the “Robotics Module Challenge” (April 23-June 4), “Power Harvesting Challenge” (June 4-July 16), “Human-Computer Interface Challenge” (July 16-Aug. 27) and the “Innovative Musical Instrument Challenge” (Aug. 27-Oct. 8).

“We’re excited to partner with Hackaday for another year of challenging inventors to be curious, creative and determined. The Hackaday Prize contest aligns with Digi-Key’s vision to encourage and enable innovation in technology that will solve problems and advance civilization. With the amazing projects we’ve seen in previous years, we can’t wait to see what the entrants create this year, ” said David Sandys, director, Business Ecosystem Development at Digi-Key.

The top 20 entries from each challenge will win $1,000 and be considered for the Finals Round. The top five finalists, including the Grand Prize winner, will be announced at the Hackaday Superconference taking place Nov. 2-3 in Pasadena, California. The Grand Prize winner will be awarded $50,000 and considered for a residency at the Supplyframe DesignLab in Pasadena, California. The second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place winners will receive $20,000, $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.

In addition to cash prizes, participants will compete throughout the competition for most impressive, outlandish and otherwise notable projects. Although there is no cash value associated with these accomplishments, they do come along with bragging rights. Examples of possible Achievements include the Diva Plavalaguna Achievement (most unexpected musical instrument), the Sonic Screwdriver Achievement (hacks that seemingly do everything) and the Ender’s Achievement (most incredible student submission).