About the Challenge
VoltHacks 2026 is a hackathon focused on building real world solutions using hardware, IoT, and AI. Participants are encouraged to go beyond traditional software projects and create systems that interact with the physical world through sensors, embedded systems, automation, and intelligent devices.
Whether you're interested in robotics, smart devices, sustainability, healthcare technology, or open innovation, VoltHacks is designed to push creativity and engineering skills toward solving meaningful problems.
Tracks could include:
- Robotics & Embedded Systems
- AI + Hardware Integration
- Smart Health Technology
- Sustainability & Smart Cities
- Open Innovation
- Anything Engineering based with Impact
Participants will present their projects to a panel of judges, with awards recognizing innovation, technical complexity, and real world impact.
Get Started
- Register individually or with a team
- Brainstorm a project idea related to the challenge themes
- Build your project during the hackathon period
- Submit your final project on Devpost before the deadline
All skill levels are welcome. Whether you're experienced with hardware or just getting started, VoltHacks is meant to be a place to learn, collaborate, and build something meaningful.
Requirements
What to Build
Build a project related to one or more of the VoltHacks themes, such as:
- IoT systems
- Robotics and automation
- AI-powered tools
- Embedded systems
- Smart devices
- Sustainability or health technology solutions
Projects can be hardware-based, software-based, or a combination of both.
What to Submit
Each submission should include:
- Project name and short description
- Explanation of the problem your project solves
- Photos, screenshots, or prototype images
- Source code or GitHub repository (if applicable)
- List of technologies/components used
Teams should clearly explain how their project works and what makes it innovative.
Prizes
Grand Prize
$300 USD in Featherless.ai credits
CodeCrafters VIP Membership (2 Years) — $720 value per team member
DevSwarm Pro Membership (1 year) - $100 value
XYZ Domain Awards & Dialogate Lifetime Subscriptions
The top 15 submissions will be given a free .xyz domain for a year, no costs for a year. (≈15$ value each)
The top 15 submissions will also be given a free lifetime subscription to Dialogate ($60 value each)
Additional Prizes Coming Soon
More prizes are currently being gathered by the VoltHacks team through sponsor partnerships and community support. Additional awards may be announced throughout the event as new sponsors join VoltHacks 2026.
Second Place
CodeCrafters VIP Membership (1 Year) — $360 value per team member
DevSwarm Pro Membership (1 year) - $100 value
Third Place
CodeCrafters VIP Membership (6 Months) — $180 value per team member
Tin Computer Growth Credits
up to 100 eligible teams can each receive $299 in Tin Computer Growth Plan credits after submitting their projects.
Available to up to 100 eligible teams
$299 in Growth Plan credits per eligible team
⚠️ THIS IS NOT A CASH PRIZE. This award consists of sponsor-provided product credits, subscriptions, software licenses, domains, or other non-cash benefits and cannot be exchanged or redeemed for cash.
Dialogate Lifetime Subscription
Every VoltHacks participant will receive a complimentary lifetime Dialogate Pro subscription after the event. This benefit includes lifetime access to Dialogate Pro at no cost.
Featherless AI Subscription + DevSwarm Pro Subscription
All users will receive a month-long subscription to featherless AI and DevSwarm Pro during the hackathon thanks to our sponsors.
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Ehsan Sadiq
Dialogate & Volthacks Founder
More Judges TBD
If you want to be a judge send a message to ehsansadiq141@gmail.com
RatnaKumar Bonagiri
Senior IEEE Member
Ankur Bhatnagar
Senior IEEE Member
Swarnamalya Mohan
Senior AI/ML Advisor
Deepashree Rajendraprasad
Business Intelligence Developer, Carilion Clinic
Prashant Bhowmik
Lead Data Engineer | McKinsey & Company
Reshmika Dhandapani
Product Manager, Motorola Solutions
Kunal Jain
Research Assistant | NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Abhijit Kale
Staff Cloud Infrastructure Engineer, Lucid Motors
Bedil Karimov
DevOps/Data Engineer
Disha Patel
SWE @ Apple
Ratish Kumar
Solutions Engineer(AI/ML)
Shrie Raam Sathyanarayanan
Health Data Analyst at Oklahoma State University
Brajesh Shrivastava
Sr. Staff Engineer, Nutanix
Swapnil Nagar
Lead Engineer, Azure Functions at Microsoft
N. Raghav
Founder & CEO, Devvit
Siyuan Feng
Senior Data & AI Engineer at CSC Global
Vamshi Krishna
Senior .NET Developer, Commonwealth of Kentucky
Shruthi Sepuri
QA Lead | AI Governance Researcher
Sarah Sonje
Senior Engineer, Oracle (AI for Databases)
Alagu Alagappan
Senior Software Engineer, AWS
Taher Ujjainwala
Senior Electrical & Embedded Systems Engineer
Honey Nikam
Machine Learning Engineer, TikTok
Mandar Chaudhari
Full-Stack Software Developer & ML Engineer
Nilesh Dhage
Director of Product Management | AI Product Leader & Engineering Executive
Rejin Joy
Staff Machine Learning Engineer, Meta
Gaurav Shah
Director – Staff Engineer, Full-Stack & Cloud
Soomin Kim
Senior Data Scientist, Sony Music Entertainment
Ankur Gupta
Senior Staff Technical Program Manager, AI Infrastructure, LinkedIn
Suraj Devatha
Senior Software Engineer, Meta
Soumya Ranjan
Software Engineer, Qualcomm
Haithem Bekkari
AI/ML Engineer & Software Developer
Gayathri Bollineni
Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)
Pavan Kumar Yakkala
Senior Software Engineer, Amazon Web Services
Malai Malaiiyyappan
Founder, kGrid.ai
Suneet Malhotra
Software Quality Engineer & AI Testing Researcher
Divya Singh
Senior Software Engineer, LinkedIn
Erica Olsthoorn
Enterprise Sales Leader, HappyRobot
Venkata Sai Bolineni
Data Engineer
Nanda Kishore Kande
Senior Software Engineer, Visa
Frank Chu
Machine Learning Manager, Meta
Devyendar Maganti
Lead Platform Engineer, Prudential Financial
Swapnil Gaikwad
Senior Software Development Engineer, Amazon
Koundanya Rajan Kesani
Senior AI/ML Engineer, JPMorgan Chase
Ranjit Ponugoti
Software Engineer
Judging Criteria
-
Innovation and Creativity
How original and creative the project idea is, including unique approaches to solving real-world problems. -
Technical Complexity
The depth of engineering, programming, hardware integration, or system design demonstrated in the project. -
Real World Impact
How useful, practical, or meaningful the project could be in real world situations. -
Design and Functionality
The overall quality, usability, and effectiveness of the project’s design and implementation. -
Presentation Quality
How clearly the team explains their project, including demonstrations, documentation, and communication of ideas.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
Invite others to compete
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
