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Overview
This competition encourages makers to create innovative projects focusing on challenges from climate change and sustainable development (impact on natural ecosystems and human society from climate change) to exploring opportunities from resilient communities, environmental education, low carbon, food system, crisis response, health & well-being, clean energy, green transportation, circular economy, and more by combining innovative design and cutting-edge technologies.
Any project that helps solve a problem that people and society face every day can qualify for this contest! Your project can focus on community development, education, environmental protection, health & fitness, energy, transportation, or other areas of sustainable development. Be imaginative!
The competition requires only minimum competency in engineering to get started, and without limitations on the hardware, software, or cloud services used, this is the perfect opportunity to use your imagination - innovate a creative solution to a difficult problem you identify with!
We recommend using open source technologies like TensorFlow, TensorFlow Lite (for Mobile & IoT), TensorFlow.js (for JavaScript), Edge Impulse for TinyML, EfficientNet-Lite (for image classification) Mobile OS: Android AIY, Coral, Flutter, Angular and Blockly. Projects should align with Google AI Principles.
Projects will be awarded points on their ability to solve an important social or livelihood problem, demonstrating effective problem solving, technical efficiency, and the ability to scale economically.
Competition structure and stagesThis Hackster contest is the U.S. divisional semi-final competition. The grand prize winners of this contest will advance to the final competition, organized by the China Ministry of Education, which is held virtually in mid-August.
U.S. Divisional Awards :
- Top 10 winners will advance into the Finals and receive $500 gift cards to improve their projects before the next round
- 10 Runner-ups will receive a Google Coral Dev Board ($129 value)
- Up to 70 early-bird prizes available for participants who submit a qualified entry by June 10
Stage 1: The Top 10 US individuals/teams will be selected for the next stage as "finalists", and will be contacted by the main contest administrator (a Google representative).
Stage 2: From July 1 to mid-August, finalists will refine their projects.
Stage 3: Semi-finalists will join the final competition (virtual) in mid-August. Finalists can win up to approx. $15,000 for a Grand Prize, three chances at approx. $7,500 for First Prize, or six chances at approx. of $5,000 for Second Prize!
Go to the Chinese competition site for more info on how to participate in the China divisions.
Prizes
There are up to $62,000 in prize pool in the final competition. You will compete in the U.S. division as a qualifier to advance into the final competition stage.
U.S. Division Semi-Finalist Winners
Top 10 eligible teams are advanced into the final competition for a chance to win bigger cash prizes in August! As divisional winners, a $500 VISA gift card will be awarded for you to use towards enhancing your project for the final competition.
Special Delegate
The winner is a runner-up that represented the US division to present in the final international competition.
Judge's Choice - US Based Project
The project that impress our judges the most in the US based contest entries.
Coral is a complete toolkit to build products with local AI.
Runner Ups
High-quality projects that stand out in the division semi-final.
Coral is a complete toolkit to build products with local AI.
Early Birds
Submit a qualified project by June 10. You’ll still be able to make minor edits to your project up to the final deadline. First 70 qualified entries will be awarded. Check the FAQ section for definition of a qualified project. 1 limited per entrant.
Smart speaker for any room from Google.
Judges
Bill is responsible for managing developer outreach and partner engagement programs, as well as promoting AI innovations using AIY and Coral products. Bill has been working in the high-tech industry in the U.S. for 37 years, including 14 years at Google. He has organized many technology trainings for developers, built many GDG communities, and also a frequent speaker at many technology conferences.
Aaron leads open source hardware strategy at Google. He also manages a network of 60 makerspaces in Google offices around the world, where Googlers can put these practices into action to drive innovation.
Alex is Hackster's resident hardware engineer and creates electronics videos and tutorials for our global community. While working to engrain the ethos of sustainability and repair into the hardware community, she loves building robots, wearable tech, EEG, music, fancy shmancy bike lights, holograms, and more.
Resources
Since 2016, Hackster has been the administrator of the US division of the China-US Young Maker Competition. For the 7th year, we are launching this special contest that challenges innovative young makers who have an ambition to create make a more sustainable, efficient, and interconnected tomorrow.
Read more about the history of this annual contest here.
Previous Four Years of CompetitionsWhat Past Winners Are Saying- "The US-China Young Maker Competition was an incredible chance to present my project to an international audience and interact with the best and brightest people in China. I met US/Chinese diplomats, students from Chinese universities, and makers from all across the United States!"- Alex Wulff
- "It was great having the opportunity to work on projects that could have a tangible impact on the world, and being able to share with other makers allowed me to share ideas with others in a collaborative environment." - Evan Rust
- “Without any doubt, US-China Young maker competition was the biggest event I have participated. I would encourage all young makers and students to take this as an opportunity to showcase your idea on this platform where you will meet great panel of judges from academia and industry. Be mindful :) It’s an international competition and you should raise your bar and give the best. Good luck!” - Mithun Das
- "I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the maker spirit embraced with such enthusiasm on the other side of the world. The final competition was the perfect celebration for showcasing everyone's hard work and establishing a sense of community. I left the event with countless new ideas that inspired me to continue tinkering so I could participate again." - Brian Cottrell
This year Hackster is starting a mentorship program that brings past contest winners & Hackster superusers together with current participants of the contest so experienced users can share their knowledge, skills, and stories. Mentors will meet with mentees for one-on-one conversations to give feedback on projects and advise on how to make the best submission possible in the current contest.
Our mentors are curated by our contest team and are either who have participated in and won previous contests on Hackster, as well as leading engineering and maker professionals who are the best fit to pass on their knowledge and skills to mentees. They are knowledgeable of how to best document engineering projects, as well as how to best show the story of a project to effectively connect a project and its purpose with judges. Click on the image below to learn about our rock star mentors and apply here.
About us
Host: China Ministry of Education
Co-organizers：
- Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (affiliated to China Ministry of Education to provide service to promote scholarly exchange between China and other parts of the world)
- Tsinghua University (Established in 1911 as one of the leading universities in China)
- Beijing Gehua Cultural Development Group (Established in 1997, a large state-owned cultural enterprise based in Beijing)
- China University Science and Technology Park Alliance
- Google Information Technology (China) Company Limited (sponsor)
- Google Coral Team
U.S. Division administrator:
- Hackster
Contest Status
Timeline
Competition begins
April 19, 2022 at 12:00 PM PDT
Submissions close
July 1, 2022 at 12:00 AM PDT
Winners announced by
Jul 22, 2022