Final Hackaday Prize Challenge Focuses on Assistive Technologies Innovation
Pasadena, California (PRWEB) August 25, 2016 -- Hackaday, Supplyframe’s collaborative hosting site built for hackers by hackers, has launched the Assistive Technologies challenge of the 2016 Hackaday Prize. Engineers, inventors, designers and hobbyists use their hardware, coding, scientific, design and mechanical abilities to make big changes in peoples’ lives.
"The Hackaday platform encourages collaboration and skill-sharing," says product director Sophi Kravitz. "There has been some incredible growth in ideas from the 160K strong community that has formed here."
In the Assistive Technologies challenge, the fifth and final round of the competition, entrants might build exoskeletons, a better wheelchair, Braille display, or educational software -- whatever improves the functional capabilities of persons with disabilities.
The challenge concludes October 3, after which a panel of 14 judges who are leaders in the fields of engineering, robotics, technology and design will choose 20 projects to each receive a $1,000 award.
One hundred projects in total (20 from each of the five rounds – Design Your Concept, Anything Goes, Citizen Scientist, Automation and Assistive Technologies ) will advance to the finals.
From there the panel will award five top prizes of $150K, $25K, $10K, $10K and $5k. In addition the entrant or team behind the first place project will win a residency in the Supplyframe DesignLab to further develop their product.
In 2015, Hackaday judges awarded the top prize to the Eyedrivomatic, a system that takes advantage of existing eye tracking technology to allow users suffering from ALS, quadriplegia or other mobility issues to drive their wheelchairs using only their eyes. The Eyedrivomatic is a low-cost, open-source way to give mobility back to people who thought they had lost it forever.
The Hackaday Prize is made possible by a commitment to engineering education from Digi-Key, Microchip and Atmel.
Sophi Kravitz, Supplyframe, http://supplyframe.com/designlab, +1 6267937732, [email protected]
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