The learning arm of the hackathon
Every project here solves a problem someone actually has. You learn the sensors, the code and the thinking by building one yourself, with a national cohort of students doing the same.
What you could build
The same eight tracks from the hackathon, expanded: the problem, the build, the parts and the skills each one teaches. Teams may combine SDGs in one solution.
The problem: Most small farms still water by guesswork, draining water their crops never use.
You build: Soil moisture sensors plus an Arduino-controlled water valve. Save water, grow more.
Skills you gain
Level 1 build
The problem: Stored grain spoils quietly from heat and moisture long before anyone notices.
You build: Monitor temperature and humidity in storage bins. Alert before spoilage.
Skills you gain
Level 1 build
The problem: An elderly person who falls at home alone may not be able to reach a phone.
You build: An accelerometer-based device for the elderly. SMS alert to family on impact.
Skills you gain
Level 1 build
The problem: Hand-washing between classes is forgotten far more often than it is refused.
You build: A motion sensor at the school washbasin. An LED nudge between classes.
Skills you gain
Level 1 build
The problem: Local lakes get tested a few times a year, so pollution shows up months late.
You build: pH, turbidity and temperature. A real-time dashboard for local water bodies.
Skills you gain
Level 2 build
The problem: Overhead tanks overflow every morning, silently draining a building’s water.
You build: Flow sensors detect overflows and leaks. SMS alert to the housing society.
Skills you gain
Level 2 build
The problem: Waste trucks drive fixed routes past empty bins and overflowing ones alike.
You build: An ultrasonic sensor in dustbins routes the waste truck efficiently.
Skills you gain
Level 2 build
The problem: Streets burn power all night for nobody, or stay dark exactly where someone walks.
You build: Motion-triggered LED street lighting. Saves energy, lights up where needed.
Skills you gain
Level 2 build
Skills to careers
Six things you practice in the hackathon, and the real careers each one leads toward.
Wire real sensors to a microcontroller and make them read the world.
Write the code that runs on hardware, where every millisecond counts.
Turn raw sensor readings into a live picture people can act on.
Use detection and prediction to make your build respond intelligently.
Pick a real problem, talk to the people who have it, define what "solved" means.
Build with a team, divide the work, defend your build in front of a jury.
These are real fields people work in today. The hackathon is a first step on the ladder, not a shortcut to the top.
Keep building with GSL
The hackathon is one season. These are the GSL programs students continue with, each laddering to its own stage or certificate.
AI filmmaking, studio-grade.
Make a real film with AI tools, guided by Prismix Studios. Storyboard, generate, edit, and premiere your work at the VideoGenX Superstar event.
With Prismix Studios
Prompt to published AI ebook.
Go from an idea to a published, illustrated AI ebook. Certified by IIT Guwahati.
AI study superpowers.
Learn to use AI tools to study sharper: notes, recall, practice and planning.
AI-assisted coding.
Build software with AI as your pair programmer. The skill behind this very site.
Build it. Code it. Fly it.
Assemble, program and pilot your own drone, then compete in the Drone Skills Challenge.
Entrepreneurship, with Cambridge.
Turn an idea into a venture with the Cambridge UPA program, laddering to YP Launchpad.
The world's largest robotics competition.
The full VEX ecosystem: hardware, curriculum and a direct line to VEX World.
Harvard Business Impact, grades 7+.
Guided sessions, an assessment and an HBI-issued certificate on creative problem-solving.
Lead a team before you can vote.
The Harvard Business Impact program on leading and motivating people.
Run projects the way pros do.
The Harvard Business Impact program on organising teams and delivering work.
Want hardware to keep tinkering at home? Explore the Arduino store
Register, take the screening quiz, and if you qualify the Arduino kit and expert masterclasses are included. Registration closes 17 August 2026.