Hackaday Supercon 2023 includes hardware hacking, workshops and the Hackaday Prize
The 2023 Hackaday Supercon, a gathering of hardware hackers, builders, engineers and enthusiasts, will open this Friday, November 3, with badge hacking at Supplyframe headquarters in Pasadena, California. Electronics engineer Matt Venn will host a workshop, also at Supplyframe, in which participants can design and manufacture a chip on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Venn will explain the basics of digital logic, how semiconductors are made, the skills needed to use an online digital design tool for simulation and how to create the graphic-data-system (GDS) file for manufacturing. Participants will also have the option to submit their designs to be manufactured as part of the Tiny Tapeout project. A welcome reception will follow the day’s activities at Supplyframe.
The bulk of the Supercon sessions will take place November 4-5, including presentations on Git, metal enclosures, robot platforms, microcontrollers, deep-space probes and artificial intelligence (AI).
The 2023 Hackaday Prize, sponsored by DigiKey, is a global hardware design challenge focused on widespread and impactful innovation. The winners of the competition will be named following the day’s activities on November 4, during Hackaday Supercon.
The Hackaday Prize has more than $130,000 of winning prizes, which will be awarded to one grand-prize winner, five additional winners and 50 finalists. The grand prize includes $50,000 cash and a Supplyframe DesignLab residency.
“DigiKey is proud of our long-term commitment to the Hackaday community, its design contests and events,” said Kevin Walseth, manager, technical marketing, DigiKey. “The combination of talks, workshops, challenges, conversations and discoveries makes Supercon one of the ultimate venues for experiencing firsthand the accelerating progress around hardware in the industry.”
DigiKey will also host an Experiential Robotics Platform (XRP) workshop during Supercon, featuring the platform’s potential to bring new people into the world of robotics, making and engineering. DigiKey will have a variety of parts available including light emitting diodes (LEDs), headers, resistors and capacitors that will be applicable for hacking challenges.
"We are excited to welcome back our amazing community of engineers, designers, hackers, scientists, educators and everyone in between to Pasadena for the 7th annual Hackaday Supercon for three days of hacking, learning and celebrating the power of open source hardware,” said Majenta Strongheart, director of DesignLab for Supplyframe. “We have more than 25 speakers lined up, presenting on topics ranging from teaching robots to sail to open-source atom trapping for education and entrepreneurship."
Every Supercon ticket holder gets a custom electronics badge to hack on during the weekend and beyond, and there will be a badge hacking ceremony at the end of the weekend to show off cool and unique hacks. DigiKey is looking forward to revealing a special project with this year’s badge and looks forward to seeing how the community gets creative with it.
The Hackaday Prize, driven by the team at Supplyframe DesignLab, represents a chance for the open-source hardware community and the electronics industry to work together to deliver tangible solutions. Engineers, designers, scientists and hackers work within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals structure to tackle the planet’s most pressing issues.
