AR/VR Heartland Developer Challenge Hackathon

The AR/VR Heartland Developer Challenge is a year-long program designed to build proof of concept applications using augmented or virtual reality to address key social impact areas facing our Heartland Communities. We have worked closely with community stakeholders (including University of Central Missouri, KU Medical Center, Children’s Mercy, Truman Medical Center, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and the American Jazz Museum) to identify meaningful opportunities for AR/VR apps to make a difference.

A little different than your typical hackathon — we’re recruiting dynamic teams looking to deliver real impact. You won’t be starting from scratch and you will have an opportunity to continue building after the hackathon is finished. Even if you are new to the program, you will still have a chance to participate in the creative process. We may even have new ideas that are presented during the hackathon.

If you are ready to help solve these problems and create new solutions, sign up to be a part. We are looking for AR/VR enthusiasts, developers, designers, technical people, product people. In addition to building cool solutions that solve real world problems, the top team gets $10k to keep building, 2nd place gets $5k.

Participants will have a chance to develop/refine your skills, meet new people and experience collaborative work. Scratch your innovation itch and do something fun and forward looking.

Weekend Agenda:

Friday, June 11th

• 5:30PM – 6:00PM – Networking
• 6:00PM – 6:15PM – Hackathon Kickoff
• 6:15PM – 7:00PM – Team Presentations (5 min each)
• 7:00PM – 7:30PM – Team Forming
• 7:30PM – 11:30 PM – Sprint 1

Saturday, June 12th

• 8:00AM – 8:30AM Day 2 Kick Off
• 8:30AM – 12:00PM – Sprint 2
• 12:00PM – 1:00PM Lunch
• 1:00PM – 1:30PM Keynote Speaker
• 1:30PM – 2:00 Project Updates
• 2:00PM – 6:00PM Sprint 3

Sunday, June 13th

• 10:00AM – 10:30 Day 3 Kick Off
• 10:30AM – 2:00PM Sprint 4
• 2:00PM – 2:45PM Demos/Presentations
• 2:45PM – 3:00PM Hackathon Wrap Up – Next Steps

Help Desk Hours – Need help with programming, hardware, creative, etc. Various experts will be available to help you out:

• Friday – 7:30PM -10:00PM
• Saturday – 8:00AM-8:00PM
• Sunday – 10:00AM -2:00PM

If you are not currently part of a team, you can review the current projects in the agenda below to understand the problems being solved and where they are in the process. You can choose a team now or wait to see the pitches on Friday night. You can even come with your own idea to pitch. After the initial pitches, teams will work throughout the weekend building their project. Judging will be partially based on Sunday pitches but also follow up with the teams. Winning teams will be announced 10 days after Sunday. Judging criteria are will be based on innovation, feasibility, impact, team, and product

Can’t make the whole weekend or even any of it. No problem, you can still participate. Teams are working now and development will continue after the hackathon. Click here to sign up for the overall program or register for the event and participate as much as you can.

Most of the hackathon will be virtual. There will be a main room for presentations and break out rooms setup for each team. We have three locations with hardware available for the teams to work with in person. The three locations are iEXCEL in Omaha, UCM Mixed Media Lab in Lee’s Summit and the UMKC Free Enterprise Center in Kansas City. Some teams may choose to meet in person as a small group. More information will be provided on that as we get closer to the event.