UTRA Hacks is Canada's emerging 2-day robotics hackathon hosted by the University of Toronto Robotics Association (UTRA) and the Robotics Institute. We aim to inspire creativity, enable collaboration and foster skill development. Participants connect face-to-face, collaborate with global students, and engage with industry leaders and mentors. The event sparks inspiration and opens minds to endless possibilities. Hackers of all experience levels can join workshops, tech talks, and career sessions to learn something new. UTRA Hacks supports participants by providing necessary equipment, so that the sky's the limit!
NOTE: Registering on Devpost does not give you access to the event, you must have been admitted to UTRA Hacks 2025 through our application process in order to attend.
Requirements
What to Build
The Hackathon will consist of an open and closed challenge to be presented on the day of the event. Specifications and workshops required to develop projects will be revealed during the Hackathon.
What to Submit
Prizes
Best Use of MongoDB Atlas - M5GO IoT Starter 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 M5GO IoT Starter Kit for you and each member of your team.
Best AI Project with Databricks Open Source - Assorted Lego Sets
Databricks is an open analytics platform that helps you build, deploy, and maintain large scale data & AI solutions! Whether you’re working with large language models using Mosaic AI, storing data with Databricks Data Lakes, or deploying GenAI powered applications using MLflow, Databricks Open Source software has the tools you need to make your hackathon project state of the art.
Build an AI powered project utilizing Databricks Open Source projects like the ones mentioned, or Databricks friendly Open Source projects like LanceDB and Llama Index, for a chance to win some amazing prizes for you and your teammates! Check out the following link to see all qualifying Databricks' Open Source technologies.
Best Use of Terraform - Keychron K8 Wireless Keyboard
HashiCorp Terraform is a source available infrastructure as code (IaC) tool that makes building, deploying, and managing your projects even easier! Whether you’re working in the cloud or using local resources, Terraform can make managing and configuring your application simple and organized. From deploying Machine Learning models to spinning up virtual containers for your web applications, Terraform supports a wide array of cloud providers and services, taking the guesswork out of your next hackathon project. Dive into the documentation and discover all the ways Terraform can take the way you hack to the next level!
Terraform’s community edition is free to use with no credit card required! Utilize Terraform in your hackathon project this weekend for a chance to win some awesome Hashicorp prizes for you and each of your teammates!
Best Use of Gen AI - Mechanical Keyboard & Fitbit
Generative AI is rapidly changing the landscape of software development. This category challenges you to build novel applications that leverage the power of Generative AI APIs. Think outside the box and integrate cutting-edge AI models to create innovative solutions with real-world impact.
To participate, utilize publicly available Generative AI APIs (like those from OpenAI, Anthropic, Hugging Face, Llama, IBM Watson, or Google Gemini) to develop a unique and functional application. This could include:
AI-powered creative tools: Design an app that allows users to generate unique marketing copy, translate languages in real-time, or create personalized learning experiences.
Intelligent assistants and automation: Build a chatbot that can provide insightful customer support, or a system that automates complex tasks using natural language processing.
Next-generation content creation platforms: Develop a platform that empowers users to generate high-quality images, write different kinds of creative text formats, or compose original music with AI assistance.
This is your chance to get hands on with cutting edge tech, put your skills on display, and of course, win some awesome prizes!
Sauce Labs Hot Sauce Raffle
Sauce Labs empowers you to develop, test, and deliver top-tier web and mobile apps quickly and efficiently. Their unified platform makes automated testing and error monitoring easy to do, enabling you to save time building your hackathon project! Let Sauce Labs help resolve any issues with your code so you can get back to building an award winning hack. Make sure your project is hackathon-tested by signing up for a Sauce Labs account!
To spice things up even more, we're running the Sauce Labs Hot Sauce naming raffle and selecting up to 4 individual winners at this event. To qualify come up with a cool hot sauce name and submit it to the Sauce Labs raffle form for a chance to win a cool prize!
Open Challenge
See discord for full details!
1st place: philips hue smart light bulb
2nd place: $20 giftcards
3rd place: keep your robot!
Closed Challenge
See discord for full details!
1st: Pololu 3pi+ 2040 robot
2nd: $20 giftcard
3rd: keep your robot!
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Quinn Dines
Major League Hacking
Vincenzo Polizzi
PhD - UTIAS
Olivier Lamarre
PhD - UTIAS
Armanpreet Pannu
PhD - UofT ECE
Spencer Teetaert
PhD - ASRL & CRL
Bella Huang
TA - UofT
Christopher Damaren
Professor - UTIAS
Sunila Akbar
Professor - YU ECE
Harshil Thakkar
Engineering Manager - A.U.G. Signals Ltd.
Nayma Piya
Hardware Engineer - Intero
Utkarsh Chadha
TA - UofT
David Li
TA - UofT
Reza Fattahi
TA - UofT
Anat Usatinsky
TA - UofT
Kalana Abeywardena
TA - UofT
Emily Chen
TA - UofT
Isabella Ferrara
TA - UofT
Graeme Aylward
TA - UofT
Roozbeh Alishahian
TA - UofT
Jones Law
TA - UofT
Kate MacQuarrie
TA - UofT
Lindsay Stern
TA - UofT
Allison Tolgyesi
TA - UofT
Jenny Wei
TA - UofT
Joana Dilipkumar
TA - UofT
Naayaab Nagree
TA - UofT
Chukwuma Asuzu
TA - UofT
Grace Shan
TA - UofT
Virupaksh Agrawal
TA - UofT
Philippe Nadeau
PhD - UTIAS
Osama Alkhodairy
Research Intern - Waabi
Judging Criteria
-
Rubric
Rubric has been emailed/posted in the discord!
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
Tell your friends
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
