About the challenge

UTRA Hacks is a 2-day robotics hackathon hosted by the University of Toronto Robotics Association (UTRA). Student teams come together to collaborate, learn, and build hands-on robotics projects with guidance from mentors and workshops. With many talented individuals and industry talks, this hackathon is a great networking opportunity as well! 

This year's challenge is inspired by the Winter Olympics where teams must design and build a robot that navigates a olympic-style course. The robot must interaction with objects and follow the necessary parths, testing principles of perception, logic, and creativity. There are no limitations on how the robot is designed (as long as it is with hardware provided in the kit), so get creative!! 

Winners will be announced on the last day of the hackathon (February 1, 2026).

Get started

All hardware hackers may need will be provided during the hackathon. Note that registering on Devpost does not grant access to the event. You must register through UTRA Hacks 2026 application process which can be found on the official website

Requirements

What to Build

UTRA Hacks will consist of a closed challenge to be presented on the day of the event.  Specifications and workshops required to develop projects will be revealed during the Hackathon. Teams will design and build a physical robot using the provided hardware kit to complete the UTRA Hacks 2026 challenge. Hacker packages containing the challenge and its specifics will be given once the hackathon begins.

What to Submit

There will be no online project submission on Devpost. 

Teams will be evaluated in person based on a brief presentation of their design, strategy, and implementation, as well as a live run of their robot on the challenge course. 

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

14 non-cash prizes
UTRA Hacks 2026: 1st Place - ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2025)
1 winner

Awarded to the team that scores highest overall on the track and presentation portions. Refer to the hacker package for score criteria.

UTRA Hacks 2026: 2nd Place - ASUS TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition (2023)
1 winner

Awarded to the team that scores second highest overall on the track and presentation portions. Refer to the hacker package for score criteria.

UTRA Hacks 2026: 3rd Place - MSI Radeon RX 6600 XT GAMING X 8G (graphics card)
1 winner

Awarded to the team that scores second highest overall on the track and presentation portions. Refer to the hacker package for score criteria.

Best Beginner Hack - POCO X7 Pro — Iron Man limited edition set
1 winner

Awarded to a beginner team with the highest score(track and presentation). Beginner teams are teams of which beginners (1st time hackers) make up the majority (>=50%) of the team.

Cleanest Code - ROG Xbox Ally
1 winner

Awarded to the highest scoring team with the cleanest code (descriptive and clear comments, follows clear structure, code is easily readable and understandable).

Best Presentation - CMF Phone 2 Pro (Nothing / CMF)
1 winner

Awarded to the team which scores highest on their presentation to the judges.

Best Track Course Performance - ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2025)
1 winner

Awarded to the team which scored highest on the track course portion of the hackathon.

Most Resourceful Design - realme × Game of Thrones phone (limited edition)
1 winner

Awarded to the team that completes the track within 5 minutes with the least amount of components used from the hacker kit. Note that if the number of components are the same, the team with the highest track score will win.

[MLH] Best Use of Gemini API
1 winner

Google Swag Kits
It’s time to push the boundaries of what's possible with AI using Google Gemini. Check out the Gemini API to build AI-powered apps that make your friends say WHOA. So, what can Gemini do for your hackathon project?

Understand language like a human and build a chatbot that gives personalized advice

Analyze info like a supercomputer and create an app that summarizes complex research papers

Generate creative content like code, scripts, music, and more

Think of the possibilities… what will you build with the Google Gemini API this weekend?

[MLH] Best Use of Solana
1 winner

Ledger Nano S Plus
The world of development is evolving fast and Solana is leading the charge with a network built to handle all of your infrastructure needs. Forget high fees and slow confirmations, it’s time to build applications that are fast, efficient, and scalable.

Harness Solana's core advantages like blazing fast execution and near-zero transaction costs to make your hackathon ideas become real world projects. With Solana, the possibilities are endless.

Create a game, social app, or consumer product that relies on instant, high-frequency transactions.

Design a sophisticated trading, lending, or decentralized exchange (DEX).

Build a prototype for supply chain, identity, or payments that can handle massive, real-world volume.

Show us how you can innovate with Solana for a chance to win some cool prizes for you and each member of your team!

[MLH] Best Use of DigitalOcean
1 winner

Retro Wireless Mouse
DigitalOcean offers a reliable and easy-to-use cloud platform for every stage of your project. Leverage core services like Droplets, Managed Databases, and App Platform to build, deploy, and scale your application effortlessly. Building with AI? DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI enables you to build, train, and deploy machine learning models, including access to GPU infrastructure and serverless inference!

Sign up for DigitalOcean today and get $200 worth of free credits that you can use towards building your next great hack. Build with DigitalOcean's robust cloud infrastructure for a chance to win some great prizes for you and each of your teammates!

[MLH] Best Use of ElevenLabs
1 winner

Wireless Earbuds
Deploy natural, human-sounding audio with ElevenLabs. Create realistic, dynamic, and emotionally expressive voices for any project, from interactive AI companions to narrated stories and voice-enabled apps. ElevenLabs will empower you to build rich, immersive experiences without the need for actors or complex audio production, using simply the power of AI.

Integrate fully autonomous audio experiences into your hack with ElevenLabs and give your project a voice, along with giving your team the chance to win some wireless earbuds!

[MLH] Best Use of Snowflake API
1 winner

Arduino Tiny ML Kit
Play with industry-leading LLMs on a single account using the Snowflake APIs. Adding AI capabilities into your application can be as simple as a single CURL command to Snowflake’s REST API.

Build customized applications, RAG powered chat bots, or embed AI-powered features into your app in half the time with half the hassle. Get started for free with a special, student 120-day Snowflake trial and check out this repository for an example of the Snowflake REST API in action.

[MLH] Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
1 winner

M5Stack IoT Kit
MongoDB Atlas takes the leading modern database and makes it accessible in the cloud! Get started with a $50 credit for students or sign up for the Atlas free forever tier (no credit card required). Along with a suite of services and functionalities, you'll have everything you need to manage all of your data, and you can get a headstart with free resources from MongoDB University! Build a hack using MongoDB Atlas for a chance to win a M5Stack IoT Kit for you and each member of your team.

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Ben Lusterio-Adler

Ben Lusterio-Adler

Yusuf Abderrahman

Yusuf Abderrahman

Sarah Xu

Sarah Xu

Yijie Wang

Yijie Wang

Fabian Torres Alvarez

Fabian Torres Alvarez

Karthik Ganesan

Karthik Ganesan

Rea Ahuja

Rea Ahuja

Bo Yan

Bo Yan

Harrison Ossias

Harrison Ossias

Spencer Teetaert

Spencer Teetaert

Vraj Prajapati

Vraj Prajapati

Meisa Chen

Meisa Chen

Olga Klushina

Olga Klushina

Kirti Saxena

Kirti Saxena

Paul Dong

Paul Dong

Isabella Ferrara

Isabella Ferrara

Anshuman Panwar

Anshuman Panwar

David Feldt

David Feldt

Sajeel Purewal

Sajeel Purewal

Taemin Lee

Taemin Lee

Ash Mahmood

Ash Mahmood

Hari Om Chadha

Hari Om Chadha

Eshan Sankar

Eshan Sankar

Parker Stewart

Parker Stewart

Jason Zhou

Jason Zhou

Nicholas Biancolin

Nicholas Biancolin

Utkarsh Chadha

Utkarsh Chadha

Cecilia Li

Cecilia Li

Oscar Sun

Oscar Sun

Kate MacQuarrie

Kate MacQuarrie

Sho Adachi

Sho Adachi

Jaden Park

Jaden Park

Adam Roberge

Adam Roberge

Connor Wilson

Connor Wilson

Isaac Picov

Isaac Picov

Abdus Shaikh

Abdus Shaikh

Kalana Abeywardena

Kalana Abeywardena

Nicholas Nguyen

Nicholas Nguyen

William Wen

William Wen

Adalyn Yang

Adalyn Yang

Tae Kim

Tae Kim

Judging Criteria

  • Picks up box
  • Detects Split (Green/Red)
  • Ramp (going up)
  • Ramp (going down)
  • Minimum resets used
  • Minimum reuploads used
  • Drops off box
  • Gets past ring 1 (blue)
  • Gets past ring 2 (red)
  • Gets past ring 3 (green)
  • Gets to centre
  • Shoots the ball
  • Drops off box
  • Avoid all obstacles
  • Under 60 seconds for obstacle course
  • Picks up box
  • Quality of build
  • Presentation
  • Technicality
  • Sustainability
  • Q&A

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

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