Hacking The Home

DataTribe, a startup crucible for entrepreneurs, is sponsoring a February 2017 Hacking the Home contest. Teams will be competing to develop new product functionality, integrations, skills, and/or exploits around the growing ecosystem of home automation devices. $3500 in prizes will be awarded following presentations and judging on February 26th.

Contestants are invited to develop or use any combination of software or hardware for their submitted hack. Example hardware applicable for the hackathon includes: Raspberry Pi, Philips Hue, Google Home, Nest, Amazon Echo®, Dot®, and IoT Button.† Example software applicable for the hackathon includes: Apache Accumulo, Apache Kafka, Apache NiFi, Apache Solr, Apache Spark, and other common software tools available on cloud computing platforms.

A ticket is required to participate in the hackathon, so please do not forget to register. 

Example hacks

• Analytics: 1. Voice fingerprinting that limits parents as triggers for purchasing events. A child's voice would be blocked from being able to purchase products. 2. Mobile phone locational data that is leveraged to build an in-home pattern of life analysis to predictively trigger environmental systems (air cooling/heating, lighting, showers/baths). 3. Analyze who is watching TV in a room to determine what TV commercials reached which specific residents. Correlate broadcast data to help filter out noise generated by the TV itself.
• Rube Goldberg: Build a complex, functional home sensor-enabled system. A voice-activated microwave oven that follows-up with an email reminder about your oatmeal getting cold if the microwave door is not opened.
• Cyber: 1. Identify and solve potential sercurity exploits involving connected devices. 2. Generate a daily report on hacking attempts made against your home IoT device network.

Following registration, teams are invited, but not required, to pick up a contest device kit that includes up to $200 in applicable home automation hardware products from the DataTribe office in Fulton, MD. The contest device kit may be complemented or replaced by any hardware that a team wishes to use for their submitted hack.

Contestants are invited to begin developing their entry immediately. During the month of February, DataTribe will host three sets of open office hours where teams may stop by to ask questions, pursue technical troubleshooting, and or test their entries ahead of the judging event on February 26th. Teams wishing to schedule office visits beyond the posted schedule are invited to email: hackevent@datatribe.com.

Hackathon Schedule

January 30th: 10am

• Contest registration opens

February 18th: 1-4pm 

• Open office hours at DataTribe-Fulton
• Pizza
• Tech support

February 25th: 1-4pm

• Open office hours at DataTribe-Fulton
• Pizza
• Tech support

February 26th: 1-4pm 

• Lunch at DataTribe-Fulton
• 1-3pm: 10 minute Demo Presentations
• 3-4pm: Judging
• 4pm: Winner Announcements

Prizes, Judging and Equipment

Prizes:

• 1st place - $2000
• 2nd place - $1000
• 3rd place - $500

Judging criteria:
50% Usefulness - Is this a compelling use case for the home device market?
50% Technical sophistication - Is this a novel capability or discovery?

Equipment: The device kit consists of up to $200 in home device hardware as your discretion. Other contestants have selected things such as: Amazon Alexas, Google Homes, Hue light bulbs, Raspberry Pi 3s, etc. You can pick up a device kit at our Fulton, MD office from 9am-5pm during the week or alternatively during the contest office hours. Alternatively, we can ship you hardware via 2 day business shipping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to pick up a device kit after registering?

No, the contest device kit is optional. Contestants are welcome to use any commercial home automation/IoT systems sold into the home market and/or based on their own engineering efforts.

Does the team need to be present on February 26th?

At least one team member must be present to demonstrate your hack on February 26th.

Is there a limit on team size?

A team for the contest shall consist of one or more individuals. Winning teams larger than 1,000 people may have some complicated math to work out among themselves around splitting their prize.

Does each team member need an Eventbrite ticket?

No, only one ticket is needed per team.

What's the catch?

There is no catch! You will be asked to sign a release form when you pick up equipment noting that (1) DataTribe makes absolutely no claim to any intellectual property you may have developed, (2) you agree to abide by the law, and (3) your work is your own, and you'll give credit to others' work where you've relied on it.

What if we have a question not covered here?

Please contact us at hackevent@datatribe.com for prompt support!