2022 Hackaday Prize Overview

Main Website :: Official Rules :: FAQ

Sustainability. Resiliency. Circularity

This year's Hackaday Prize represents a chance for the open source hardware community and the electronics industry to go beyond promises and work together to deliver tangible solutions. We are challenging our open source community of engineers, designers, scientists, and hackers to work within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals structure, to tackle our planet's most pressing issues.

Schedule

Launch 3/29/2022

Challenge 1: Planet-Friendly Power 3/29/2022 - 5/1/2022

Challenge 2: Reuse, Recycle, Revamp 5/1/2022 - 6/12/2022

Challenge 3: Hack it Back 6/12/2022 - 7/24/2022

Challenge 4: Climate Resilient Communities 7/24/2022 - 9/4/2022

Challenge 5: Save the World Wildcard 9/4/2022 - 10/16/2022

Finals 10/16/2022 - 11/2/2022

Winners Announced on or around 11/12/2022

Prizes:

Grand Prize - $50,000 + Supplyframe DesignLab Residency

Second Place - $20,000

Third Place - $15,000

Fourth Place - $10,000

Fifth Place - $5,000

Top 10 Finalists from each challenge - $500

The Hackaday Prize is in its 9th Year: Our History

In 2014, we launched The Hackaday Prize to our smart, talented, enthusiastic community of engineers, scientists, designers and creatives everywhere. Over 600 projects were created, and the winner, SatNOGS, now has a foundation where they are continuing the work they started here.

In 2015, we challenged the Hackaday community to use their superpowers again. The results told the story of nearly 900 Hackaday Prize entrants using their unique skills to make big changes in peoples' lives. 2015's Hackaday Prize winner, the Eyedrivomatic, directly impacted those living with limited mobility.

In 2016, we had nearly 1,100 entries, and the Hackaday Prize winner was Dtto, a search and rescue robot. It's also an open source project that continues its journey at the Supplyframe Design Lab.

In 2017, the winner of the Hackaday Prize was Alex Williams, with an underwater explorer robot. Alex continued the work on his project at the Supplyframe Design Lab.

In 2018, the winner was Dexter, a 5-axis robotically controlled arm with insane precision. Dexter is now a product and a fledgling business located in Las Vegas, NV.

In 2019, FieldKit won the grand prize, and has continued to push the boundaries of open source environmental sensing with their organization Conservify.

In 2020, The Byte, took the grand prize home with an open-source, mouth-actuated input device for people with physical challenges.

Last year in 2021, FlowIO Platform, took the grand prize home with an open-source, miniature, modular pneumatics toolkit for control & sensing of Soft Robots and Programmable Materials.

It is now time to start the 2022 Hackaday Prize. In keeping with the incredible hardware community, we hope to activate the next generation of innovative open source hardware solutions.

Thank you to our Sponsors:

Contest Logs

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Top 50 Finalists
Lutetium • 02/21/2024 at 17:00 • 0 comments
Challenge 1: Planet-Friendly Power
Challenge 2: Reuse, Recycle, Revamp
Challenge 3: Hack it Back
Challenge 4: Climate Resilient Communities
Challenge 5: Save the World Wildcard
Winners
Grand Prize:
3D Printed Portable Wind Turbine
2nd Place:
Bloft Waste Printer
3rd Place:
Polyformer
4th Place:
Boondock Echo
5th Place:
Kite Turbine
FAQ
Lutetium • 03/29/2022 at 04:50 • 0 comments
The 2022 Hackaday Prize FAQ

How do I enter?

There is a drop down menu below your project image. Simply start a project and click the dropdown, from there you will see 2022 Hackaday Prize. You will only be able to enter the challenge that is open at the time you are submitting.

What is considered an entry?

Put simply, you need an idea, an image, and documentation. To start, choose a challenge to address, or talk about a technology problem facing people today and your idea of what a solution might be and enter it to the Wildcard Challenge.

From your documentation, others should be able to build what you're working on, and incorporate the best ideas into their own projects. To be eligible for judging you must have the entry round requirements completed by the close date of the challenge you are entering.

Those who need a little more inspiration will excel in any of the first four challenges. But everyone should enter the Wildcard Challenge too as it encourages you to plan well, working though problems before they become huge prototyping issues.

What are the 2022 Hackaday Prize Challenges? When do they start/end?

Choose to enter any of these five challenges.
How do I see which projects have already been entered?

Check out this full list of official entries.

How much of my Project Profile will I be judged upon?

All parts of your project will be judged. We recommend you start with a brief summary to provide an overall understanding of your project. From there, explain each part in detail, adding images and diagrams as needed. A video is only required for the final round, but if you want to make one to help walk through your project that is a great idea.

Where do I submit my prize project entry video?

On the Edit Project page add the link to your entry video in the Contest Entry Videos field and click save.

What does "open" actually mean?

Open refers to how much you have documented about your project and how much you will make available to the public when you push your project out into the world. Optimally, we would like to see open source drivers, hardware, and development tools; the final project would also be licensed as open source (using the wide range of licenses that are possible). This is a judging preference, so providing design files in a format that uses open source tools (and therefore allows others to easily use or modify them), will help you with the best chance of edging out your competition.

What are the judges using as criteria for who moves on to the final round?

You must complete the minimum entry requirements for the Challenge. Challenge entries will be judged on the following criteria:
- How effective of a solution is the entry to the challenge it is responding to?
- How thoroughly documented were the design process & design decisions?
- How ready is this design to be manufactured?
- How complete is the project?
What are the judges using as criteria to select the top ten winners?

Finalist entries will be judged on the following criteria:
- Concept- Is the project creative, original, functional, and pushing boundaries? Does the project effectively address the selected challenge?
- Design- Is there a depth of design detail available (like a system design, CAD models, project test methods, etc.)? Is there base-level planning for the functionality (e.g., functional block diagram, list of specifications and descriptions of how they will be met, etc.)? How user-friendly is the design?
- Production- Is the project realistically reproducible (taking into consideration necessary materials, skills, and production processes)? Are the manufacturing processes detailed? Are those processes realistic for scalability?
- Benchmark- How well is the project impact and viability demonstrated? Are estimated costs realistic? How well does the project improve...
Read more »
Challenge 5: Save the World Wildcard
Lutetium • 03/25/2022 at 16:36 • 0 comments
SAVE-THE-WORLD WILDCARD FINALISTS
Entry Period 7:01 a.m. P.D.T on September 4, 2022 - 07:00 a.m. P.D.T on October 16, 2022

Finalists Announced on or around 10/31

Got an idea that doesn’t quite fit into our other challenges?

The wildcard is for you! This is where anything goes, so show us how you plan to hack the future and help preserve this planet we call home! Your designs should stand apart from the other challenges, but still fit within the overall concept of the prize this year: to work within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals structure and develop smart and sustainable hardware.

This could look like:
- LoRa Bike Light with Indoor Location Estimation
- DIY electric one-wheeled vehicle
- Low-cost robot build kit that makes STEM education more accessible
Challenge 4: Climate Resilient Communities
Lutetium • 03/25/2022 at 16:34 • 1 comment
THE CLIMATE-RESILIENT COMMUNITIES FINALISTS
Entry Period 7:01 a.m. P.D.T on July 24, 2022 - 7:00 a.m. P.D.T on September 4, 2022

Finalists Announced on or around 9/19

Design devices that help communities to (a) be more resilient to weather and climate disasters and/or (b) collect data from their environments so that they may advocate for changes in local infrastructure.

Weather and climate disasters can strike at any time, and due to climate change, they are going to become more frequent as time goes on. This challenge tasks the community with developing devices that allow communities to be more resilient in the face of severe weather, while also allowing them to collect data on their environment that they can use to support the argument for changes in local infrastructure.

This could look like:
- Remote networking/ communication solutions
- Climate change/ action educational tools
- Environmental sensing tool kits
Challenge 3: Hack it Back
Lutetium • 03/25/2022 at 16:33 • 14 comments
TEN FINALISTS HACK IT BACK
Entry Period 7:01 a.m. P.D.T on June 12, 2022 - 7:00 a.m. P.D.T on July 24, 2022

Finalists Announced on or around 8/8

Your project adds new capabilities to older electrical gear to keep it useful.

Just because there’s a newer version of something doesn’t mean the old model should get left in the dust. Sometimes all it takes are some components, a little know-how, and a pinch of patience to turn an outdated piece of gear into something useful. This challenge tasks the community with adding new capabilities to old hardware, or to bring something broken back from the brink and make it functional again.

This could look like:
- New screens hacked on to old oscilloscopes
- Old blender motor turned into a dremel-like tool
- Epic hardware repairs
Challenge 2: Reuse, Recycle, Revamp
Lutetium • 03/25/2022 at 16:31 • 1 comment
TEN FINALISTS FROM REUSE, RECYCLE, REVAMP
Entry Period 7:01 a.m. P.D.T on May 4, 2022 - 7:00 a.m. P.D.T on June 12, 2022

Finalists Announced on or around 6/27

Your project facilitates recycling of material that would otherwise end up in the waste stream.

Recycling makes a whole lot of sense, but too often there are obstacles in the way of ensuring that typical materials are reused and repurposed. For this challenge, we are asking you to create new ways to recycle materials. Whether it’s harvesting valuable chips from PCBs, or extracting materials that could be used in other projects, the approach you choose is completely up to you!

This could look like:
- Systems for depopulating PCBs and harvesting the most useful chips
- Tools to extract the gold from PCBs
- Shredders, heat presses, etc. that turn used plastic into millable blocks
Challenge 1: Planet-Friendly Power
Lutetium • 03/25/2022 at 16:28 • 11 comments
Top 10 Finalists:
- Low Cost Solar Panel Solution
Entry Period 7:01 a.m. P.D.T on March 29, 2022 - 07:00 a.m. P.D.T on May 1, 2022.

Finalists Announced on or around 5/16

Your solution should lower the cost of clean energy, through energy harvesting and/or storage efficiency improvements.

Clean energy is a powerful way to combat climate change and reduce emissions, but it comes with its own challenges, specifically the cost of building and installing facilities like wind or solar farms. For this challenge, we want you to focus on minimizing the costs around building and installing clean energy solutions. This extends to the way energy is stored as well, to maximize the efficiency of the entire infrastructure.

This could look like:
- MPPT circuits for solar setups
- Battery arrays with charging monitors
- DIY wind or water power generating systems

View all 7 contest logs

HDP 2022 Rules_Updated September 22.pdf Adobe Portable Document Format - 146.47 kB - 09/23/2022 at 16:22		Preview

Supplyframe DesignLab: 2022 Hackaday Prize

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Contest Details

2022 Hackaday Prize Overview

Main Website :: Official Rules :: FAQ

Sustainability. Resiliency. Circularity

Schedule

Prizes:

The Hackaday Prize is in its 9th Year: Our History

Thank you to our Sponsors:

Files

HDP 2022 Rules_Updated September 22.pdf

Contest Logs Collapse

Challenge 1: Planet-Friendly Power

Challenge 2: Reuse, Recycle, Revamp

Challenge 3: Hack it Back

Challenge 4: Climate Resilient Communities

Challenge 5: Save the World Wildcard

Winners

Grand Prize:

2nd Place:

3rd Place:

4th Place:

5th Place:

The 2022 Hackaday Prize FAQ

How do I enter?

What is considered an entry?

What are the 2022 Hackaday Prize Challenges? When do they start/end?

How do I see which projects have already been entered?

How much of my Project Profile will I be judged upon?

Where do I submit my prize project entry video?

What does "open" actually mean?

What are the judges using as criteria for who moves on to the final round?

What are the judges using as criteria to select the top ten winners?

Submissions View all 316 submissions »

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