Attention all college and university students! We are standing at the intersection of big data and industrial manufacturing, and we need you to help us maximize connected technologies to revolutionize the manufacturing industry. Although the Industrial Internet of Things has been around for some time now, right now there is a new wave of innovation in how these industrial machines communicate. Every piece on the factory floor is a potential source of valuable data that could be used to improve the entire manufacturing industry, from the products themselves to how work gets done.

So we’re asking you to develop super innovative and advanced manufacturing intelligence application solutions, which are both innovative and deployable, using data acquired through the MTConnect standard. MTConnect is an open, XML- and HTTP-based communications standard that acts as the enabler for the Internet of Things for manufacturing by fostering improved connectivity and interoperability between manufacturing equipment and devices. Within the challenge itself, there are two separate competitions, and you can choose to participate in one or both.

#1— Idea Creation: Learn more about the Ideation Challenge here (note: this competition ended on 15 MARCH 2016).

#2— Applications: Using either an independent idea/solution, or your solution from the Ideation Challenge (should you chose to complete both challenges), you must create an innovative and effective application of your solution. Your submission must include a written summary of the application, a video of the application in action, and a thumbnail image.

Please see the Rules document for a comprehensive run down of the challenge rules and requirements. For more information, check out the Discussion tab here and the resources on MTConnect.org. And, if you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out on Facebook or Twitter. Good luck!

Eligibility

Only students who are lawfully admitted and enrolled in a degreed program at an institution of higher education, located in the U.S., are eligible to participate in any part of the MTConnect Student Challenge. For the purpose of this challenge, higher education is defined as Community College, College, or University. Undergraduate and Graduate level students are both eligible.

Requirements

Your application may be either an independent application that meets the objectives of the Challenge or it may be an extension to a pre-existing application.
Submissions shall include (1) a written summary of the application describing the benefits that can be derived from the application, (2) a video of the application in action, and (3) a thumbnail image representing the application.
The submission may also include supporting materials that demonstrate the capabilities of the application and/or the benefits that may be derived from the application. These supporting materials may be in the form of presentations, story boards, video, flash, or any other electronic format generally available to the public.
Please DO NOT submit source code or executable files. The descriptions, videos, and graphics submitted may be made public. The applicant must define how MTConnect and MTConnect data is used by the application solution submitted. In Rounds 2 and 3 of the judging, the application must effectively demonstrate the use of MTConnect and MTConnect data.
We encourage you to identify extensions that may be required to the MTConnect Standard to more fully implement the solutions identified in the proposal.

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

$22,500 in prizes

First Place

1 winner

$10,000

Second Place

1 winner

$7,500

Third Place

1 winner

$5,000

How to enter

(1) Create an innovative application which uses the MTConnect standard to advance manufacturing intelligence.

(2) Provide a video demonstration of your application in action

(3) Provide a written summary describing the benefits that can be derived from your application

Please do NOT submit source code or executable files!

Judges

Dave Gilson
Process Engineer / US ARMY - ARDEC, Benet Labs

Bill Walch
Sr. Program Manager / National Center for Defense Manufacturing & Machining (NCDMM)

Dr. John Snyder, PhD
Sr. Mechanical Engineer / US ARMY - ARDEC, Benet Labs

John Turner
Director of Technology / FA Consulting & Technology

Will Sobel
Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder / System Insights

Jon Riley
Sr. VP of Technology at NCMS

Surojit Ganguli
Mechanical Engineer at Greenlee Textron

Tom Hedberg
Mechanical Engineer/Systems Engineering Division at NIST

Dave Edstrom
CTO Memex Corp.

Greg Wetsig
OSD DMS&T, Sr. Project Manager

Tim Shinbara
VP – Manufacturing Technology at AMT

Jules McGuire
Education & Development Manager at AMT

Judging Criteria

Benefit to Manufacturing Intelligence
Each submission will be rated based on the strength of its potential to create achievable and measurable benefits to manufacturing intelligence.
Creativity and Innovation
Each submission will be rated based on the extent to which it exhibits a breakthrough concept and/or methodology. This may be through a new concept, methodology, or means of implementation.
Practicality of Concept
Each submission will be rated for its viability — its ability to be effectively implemented and deployed in a manufacturing setting.
Impact on Industry
Each submission will be rated based on its proposed impact to the creation of manufacturing intelligence from differing manufacturing processes, facilities, and types of equipment and devices.
Overall Quality
Each submission will be rated on the extent to which it adheres to all requirements, completeness and clarity of the vision and approach, and utilization of the existing MTConnect standard and/or an extension of the standard.