2026-2027 Fall ESE Senior Design

Brainstorm word cloud

Terms mined today from the brief, current gallery submissions, past winning projects in related Devpost hackathons and the discussion board. Bigger = more frequent (brief and winners weigh more). Click a word to see winning projects that mention it.

quantum · AR · music · data · digital · AI · agent · trust · never · helping · hybrid · explore · game · system · machine learning · cat qubits · learn · model · immersive · beat · learns · notes · create · financial · platform · algorithm · classical · optimization · drift · neural · food · experience · fun · track · control · combines · hand · water · power · vehicle routing

Past winners in related hackathons

Winner-badged projects from ended Devpost hackathons that share a theme with this one. Read a few before you pick an idea.

• Fun With English — Learn english with simple games (2019 Developer Circles from Facebook Community Challenge)
• VOXELIZE — A real-time AR voxel scanner with 3D model export as .glb (Snap AR Lensathon)
• DreamSpace — Turn any room into stunning, immersive mixed-reality spaces (Meta Horizon Start Developer Competition)
• World Ensemble — Tap buildings to place instruments in the AR world. Tap the sky to switch the audio and visual effects. Walk around to change the beat. (Google’s Immersive Geospatial Challenge)
• SafeHer — Not just the fastest route — the safest one (Zero Origin)
• Skeptic — Every agent is handed tool documentation and told to trust it. This one doesn't. It experiments on its tools, learns what they really do, drops beliefs that stop being true, and publishes the spec. (Syndicate by Maximor)
• AI study assistant — A web app where students upload a pdf or lecture notes and the system can summarise the document, generate notes and create power points slides for their studies. (Nairobi Hack Day)
• AVA: Accessibility and Vision Assistant — is your smart financial assistant and mobile wallet for the visually impaired and elderly with the power of machine learning and FFDC API, DIGITAL BANKING has never been this CLEAR and ACCESSIBLE. (Hack to the Future 2020)
• DockIt — An an AI-powered platform helping small businesses discover and manage city-specific licenses, permits, documents, and compliance requirements. (QuantumHacks)
• Quantum Route Optimizer — Solves the NP-Hard Vehicle Routing Problem using a hybrid algorithm that combines quantum processing with classical optimization to aid in precise route calculations and accelerate supply delivery. (CQhack25: A Quantum Computing Hackathon & Ideathon for Students)
• Piqasso tackles Cat Qubits — We characterize the robustness of cat qubits to drift with the application of a PPO neural network optimization algorithm. Through this, we seek to gain a deeper physical understanding of cat qubits. (YQuantum 2026)
• Balanced Reposition Mutation Particle Swarm Optimization — Our algorithm, BRMPSO, reduces PSO's (Particle Swarm Optimization) inaccurate convergence upon its target, and provides promising results for PSO's application in swarm robotics for search and rescue. (The International AstroGEN -TT Innovation Competititon)

Judging criteria

Criteria as listed on the official page; weights are not stated there, so they are drawn equal. source ↗

Timeline

Submission period (from Devpost): Sep 22 - Dec 07, 2026. Deadline: Deadline: Dec 7, 2026 @ 5:00pm EST.

How a beginner can ship

1. Read the rules page

   Check eligibility, team rules and what must be submitted.

2. Pick one idea from the word cloud

   Choose one problem and one user; cut everything else.

3. Build the smallest working version

   One flow that works end to end beats five half features.

4. Record the demo early

   Most Devpost judging leans on the video and description.