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Everyone & their grandma is hosting a hackathon. This is the one where you build something physical.
Silicon Alley Hack is a one-day, in-person sprint for builders who'd rather solder than ship a vibe-coded app. Microcontrollers. Sensors. Connected devices. Real hardware that runs in the real world & has to work when we plug it in on stage.
Application-based. Teams of 4.
Every team gets an STM32 development board & peripherals on arrival. Bring your laptop, your wits, & your soldering instincts.
The Problem Statement
Software ate the world & then got bored. The interesting frontier moved back to atoms - robots that navigate a room, drones that deliver, sensors that make a physical space legible to a machine. All of it runs on constrained silicon, in real time, in places where the cloud is too slow, too far, or not there at all.
So that's the terrain: edge intelligence. Machines that sense the world & act on it, on-device.
The Challenge Theme
The sealed spec will live somewhere in here:
Sense decide act, running on-device
IoT, sensors, & connected devices
Physical/digital interaction - things that move, respond, or react
Anything that runs on hardware, not just in a browser
Constraints you can count on:
You'll be working on an STM32 development board & peripherals - get familiar before you show up
It has to run live. Slides don't win. Working hardware wins.
First team to solve it take the prizes. This is a race, not a showcase.
What to Expect
A live race-to-win challenge dropped at kickoff
An STM32 dev kit + peripherals for every team, free
5 hours of focused build time
Team formation on-site, or come with your crew
Breakfast & lunch provided
Exciting prizes for the winning
A room full of NYC's hardware people - embedded engineers, drone builders, robotics founders, spatial-data folks
Schedule
10:00 - 11:00 AM - Doors open. Breakfast, networking mixer, team formation.
11:00 - 11:30 AM - Partner intros, Root Access demo, challenge drop, rules & judging criteria.
11:30 AM - 4:30 PM - Build sprint. Lunch provided. Clock does not stop.
4:30 - 5:15 PM - Live hardware demos to the judges.
5:15 - 6:00 PM - Photos & Mixer.
Prizes
A mix of cash, credits, & perks for the winning team. Sponsors are getting locked in - full breakdown announced before doors.
Who Should Attend
Embedded & firmware engineers
Robotics, drone, & hardware builders
EE / CE students & anyone who's ever blown up a dev board
Founders building physical products
Software engineers who want to get their hands on real silicon
Anyone curious, ambitious, & hands-on
Sponsors
[Sponsor TBD - reach out to somyag00@gmail.com to sponsor]
Hosts & Partners
Somya Gupta - The face of NYC startup ecosystem.
Pulse NYC AI - A community, incubator, & venture fund built for founders, researchers, & technologists shaping the future of AI in New York City.
ConnNext - A next-gen mobile app & community built for career growth.
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