The Hackaday Prize Wraps up The Rethink Displays Challenge, Work From Home up Next!

2021-06-22 | By Maker.io Staff

It seems like just yesterday that the Hackaday Prize 2021 launched with its Rethink Displays challenge, and now this first milestone is coming to close, paving the way for the next challenge in this year’s theme: Refresh Work-From-Home Life!

Before we dive into the parameters of the upcoming challenge, let’s look at a few unique and interesting entrants from the Rethink Displays portion of The Hackaday Prize!

3 Amazing Entries From The Rethink Displays Challenge

There were numerous entries into the Rethink Displays challenge that truly embraced this year’s concept around “Rebuild. Rethink. Refresh,” but if we had to pick out a few of our favorites, it would be these three takes on how to revitalize the hardware and the mediums we use to communicate everything from the time of day, to entire stories:

• As far as we can remember, we’ve never seen someone make a display out of sequin cloth, but that’s exactly what Sequino from ekaggrat singh kalsi managed to do with their entry. By flipping the sequins in a specific pattern, this unique entry can display the time of day on a sparkling set of sequins!
• The Infrared Mirror utilizes infrared technology and an LED matrix to truly offer a one-of-a-kind display that would most likely not be your first or third pick for a hardware combination that acts as a display. As the creator, Reuben says on their Hackaday.io page, this project “allows you to see yourself in a new light.” We see what you did there.
• Repurposing hardware not meant for displays is always a valid approach! The BK-1 VGA Board is a board for Arduino Nano that expands the hardware beyond its typical capabilities, allowing it to power a 256x128 display and 256 colors. That’s an impressive feat for a Nano!

Next Up: It’s Time to Refresh The Work-From-Home Life!

Beginning June 14th and running until July 19th, the second segment of The Hackaday Prize 2021 turns our focus to something we’ve all become quite familiar with in the last year: working from home! Now, for some of us this change was a positive, but others are looking to get back into the office and resume their normal routine.

In either case, those who have been or will continue to work from home are in need of something to rejuvenate their home office! This doesn’t only extend to traditional bedrooms or kitchens that have suddenly become offices either, we want to see what you can do with your remote hackerspaces as well! The goal here can be anything around the topic. Whether it’s achieving a better work-life balance, boosting productivity, or something else entirely, so long as it benefits the work-from-home crowd, the sky’s the limit!

Let your imagination run wild, and stay tuned for more updates on future milestones, challenges, and exciting entries from the Hackaday Prize 2021, sponsored by DigiKey and Supplyframe!

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