Join us for a one-day hackathon dedicated to solving real-world accessibility challenges using Raspberry Pis (w/ AI HATs) and provided smart glasses.

Build useful voice-AI tools that meaningfully improve independence and quality of life for unsighted people.

Choose a track and produce a working prototype by the end of the day.

This event is inspired and co-organised by Chris Mairs. Chris is blind, serves on the board of Raspberry Pi, is the former CTO of Metaswitch Networks (Sequoia-backed, acquired by Microsoft), and is one of Europe’s most active angel investors. He is also EF’s longest-standing Venture Partner and author of “The Open Eyed Man”, which examines how the tech industry continues to leave millions behind.

Example Tracks / Use Cases

You can build anything within the broader scope above, but here are some prompts:

• Identify banknotes for visually impaired users

• Detect whether a laptop is powered on or off

• Help elderly or visually impaired users manage multiple medications

• Control home lighting/heating through voice + vision

• Build an “accessible entry phone”: identify who’s at the door + keep them talking

• Read microwave instructions and autonomously control a smart microwave

Who Should Attend

AI or ML engineers, embedded-systems builders, computer-vision developers, and hardware tinkerers. No accessibility background required.

What We Provide

• Raspberry Pis + AI HATS

• Free access to Asteroid.ai

• Credits ($10,000 Microsoft Azure credits for 1st, 2nd + 3rd place) 👀

• Workspace, mentorship, and technical support

• Food & coffee

Bring your laptop and any extra hardware you want to experiment with. We'll provide the rest.

Schedule

• 09:30 – Doors open, setup

• 10:00 – Welcome + briefing from Chris

• 10:30 – Team formation + hacking begins

• 13:00 – Lunch arrives

• 18:00 – Demos

• 19:15 – Winner + prize announcements

Judges

• Chris Mairs CBE

• Christopher Patnoe: Lead for EMEA Accessibility and Disability Innovation at Google

• Iacop Hafiane: Entrepreneurs First Founder

Apply to Join

We have limited space and hardware.

This is not a free-for-all event; we care about curated rooms. We'll build a room full of high-agency, young technical builders that you'll want to keep building with after the event.

Looking forward to seeing what you build.

Accessibility features are often added late or treated as afterthoughts, leading to what Chris calls “inclusivity debt”.
This hackathon is an opportunity to reverse that pattern. As Chris puts it: “As web pages, browsers and Large Language Models co-evolve over the coming months and years, there is a genuine opportunity to improve accessibility with conversational voice agents allowing blind users to access online content just as well as sighted users.”

Read one of his pieces on the matter here.

Entrepreneurs First (EF) turns exceptional individuals into funded founders. We invest in people before they have a company, helping them find a cofounder, validate an idea, and build from scratch. EF's portfolio companies are now worth over $14B.

• ​Real-world usefulness
  Does this solve a real problem for someone with access needs?
• Accessibility & ease of use
  Is it genuinely usable for the intended users?
• Does it work?
  Is there a functioning end-to-end prototype?
• Insight & originality
  Is there a clear, non-obvious idea behind it?