PhysTech 2026: Physical Activity and Technology Hack Day

The challenge

PhysTech is an online international hackathon led by students for anyone who does, watches, analyzes and promotes physical activities - including sports, workouts, fitness exercises, casual hobbies/pastimes, and recreational adventures.

PhysTech welcomes any type of physical activity. Sports and physical training are in. Yoga, pilates, ballet? Of course. Swimming, kayaking, cycling, dancing, skateboarding, rock/mountain climbing, hiking, horseback riding? Sure. Fishing, bowling, paddleboarding, scuba diving, rafting, cheerleading, outdoor bird watching, gardening, kite flying, disc golf (frisbee), or cornhole? Why not!

Not only athletes and recreational players, but also fans, coaches, referees/judges, and analysts are welcome.

PhysTech offers you a platform to address various needs, wants, and challenges in physical activities and produce creative solutions (hacks) with technology.

PhysTech welcomes anyone of all ages and all technical skills, from limited experience to advanced. Entry is free.

Expected project topics include, but are not limited to:

• Monitoring and enhancing performance
• Logging and tracking practice, training, and exercise
• Recording, analyzing, and communicating activity data
• Applying data analytics to physical activity
• Enhancing fan experience
• Increasing participation/engagement in physical activity
• Promoting health and wellness through physical activity
• Preventing and helping heal from injuries
• Improving dietary and nutritional assistance
• Protecting and improving the environment for physical activity

Solutions can take many different forms, such as apps, games, social platforms, websites/services, devices, sensors, robots, audio/video, data collection/storage, data analysis/forecasts, data visualization, information retrieval, and 3-dimensional modeling/printing.

Book publication: Your project will be featured in a book in the Binnovative Innovation Book Series. Selected participants will be invited to extend their project descriptions and publish them as a book.

Required tech & constraints

• Participants must be above the legal age of majority in their country of residence.
• All countries/territories are eligible, excluding standard exceptions.

Submission requirements

Each participant/team is required to complete ALL of the following 3 requirements:

• Submit your project to Devpost by 12 pm on June 27 (Sat), EST.
• Register your project presentation by 12 pm on June 27 (Sat), EST.
• Give a project presentation online on June 28 (Sun), EST.

A link for presentation registration will be shared in the PhysTech 2026 channel in Discord. To register your presentation, you will be asked to submit:

• Your name and contact info
• Your project presentation title
• An abstract (short one-paragraph description) of your project
• A publicly accessible link to your project is placed on an online code repository (e.g., GitHub) or online storage (e.g., Google Drive). We will verify the actual outcome of your work with this link in the afternoon of June 27.

Your presentation will be online on June 28 (Sun), EST, tentatively starting at 10 am. A Zoom link will be made available in the PhysTech 2026 channel of Discord.

• You will have 10 minutes in total for your presentation, including approx. 3 minutes for Q&As with judges and other participants.

Judging criteria

• Impact: How much impact (quality and quantity) can this project have? Does it solve a big problem or a small problem? Will it inspire or help many or a few?
• Creativity: How creative/innovative is this project? Is it something that hasn't been attempted before, or is it an incremental improvement on something that already exists?
• Presentation: How well did the team/individual communicate this project? Was the presentation effective in telling the story of the project: why it is important, what challenge it addresses, and how it delivers a solution?

Prizes

10 non-cash prizes:

• Grand Prix (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• 2nd Place (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• 3rd Place (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• Honorable Mention (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• Excellence in Creativity Award (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• Excellence in Research Award (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• Excellence in Social Impact Award (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• Emerging Talent Award (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.
• Key Contributor Award (1 winner): Certificate of achievement + invited to publish a book chapter.