PhysTech 2026

Physical Activity and Technology Hack Day

June 28, 2026 (Sun), EST

Devpost page

[Overview | Requirements | Prizes | Judges | Organizers | Merchandise]

Hackathon Overview:

PhysTech is an online, student-led hackathon for anyone who does, watches, analyzes and promotes physical activities - including sports, workouts, fitness exercises, casual hobbies, and recreational adventures.

All types of physical activities are welcome. Traditional sports and athletic training? Absolutely. Yoga, pilates, ballet? Of course. Swimming, kayaking, cycling, dancing, skateboarding, rock/mountain climbing, hiking, horseback riding? Definitely. Fishing, bowling, paddleboarding, scuba diving, rafting, cheer leading, outdoor bird watching, gardening, kite flying, disk golf (frisbee), or cornhole? Why not!

PhysTech is open not only to athletes and recreational participants, but also to fans, coaches, referees/judges, and analysts.

PhysTech offers you a platform to identify needs, wants and challenges in physical activities and develop creative, technology-driven solutions (hacks) to address them.

PhysTech welcomes anyone of all ages and all technical skills, from limited experience to advanced.

Entry is free.

Expected Project Topics:

Expected project topics include, but are not limited to:

• Monitoring and enhancing performance
• Logging and tracking practice, training and exercise
• Recording, analyzing and communicating activity data
• Applying data analytics to physical activity
• Enhancing fan experience
• Increasing participation/engagement in physical activity
• Promoting health and wellness though physical activity
• Preventing and helping heal from injuries
• Improving dietary and nutritional assistance
• Protecting and improving the environment for physical activity

Solutions can take many different forms such as apps, games, social platforms, web sites/services, devices, sensors, robots, immersive technology (AR/VR), wearables, data collection/storage, data analysis/forecasts, data visualization, audio/image/video processing, 3-dimensional modeling/printing, machine learning/AI, NFT/crypto, and algorithms.

Requirements:

Project Submission: You are required to complete ALL of the following 3 requirements:

• Submit your project to Devpost by 12pm on June 27 (Sat), EST.
• Register your project presentation on a Google Forms page by 12pm on June 27 (Sat), EST.
• Give a project presentation online on June 28 (Sun), EST.

The deadlines are firm. No extensions will be given. Failure to meet these requirements will disqualify you (and your team) in award judging.

A link for presentation registration will be shared in the PhysTech channel of Discord. To register your presentation, you will be asked to submit:

• Your name and contact info
• Your country of residence (time zone)
• Your project presentation title
• A summary of your project (short one-paragraph description)
• A publicly accessible link to your project placed on a cloud-based code repository (e.g. GitHub) or online storage (e.g. Google Drive). We will verify the actual outcome of your work with this link. Please note that we will not schedule your presentation if we cannot verify your actual work. You can submit a link to your Devpost project page; however, please make sure that your Devpost page references the actual outcome of your work.

Project presentation: We will announce the schedule of project presentations (i.e. what time each presentation starts) by early morning of June 28 (Sun), EST. A Zoom link will be made available in the PhysTech channel of Discord.

In our current plan, we will kick off around 10am on June 28 (Sun), EST. However, we may adjust the start time based on the locations (time zones) of presentation speakers.

You will have 10 minutes in total for your presentation, including approx. 3 minutes for Q&As with judges and other participants.

Prizes and Judging:

Certificates: Every participant will receive a certificate of participation.

Prizes:

• Grand Prix (1st Place)
• 2nd Place
• 3rd Place
• Honorable Mention
• Excellence in Innovation Award
• Excellence in Research Award
• Excellence in Creativity Award
• Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award
• Excellence in Social Impact Award
• Excellence in Team Work
• Emerging Talent Award
• Key Contributor Award

A panel of judges will select and announce prize winners at the end of the event. Prize winners will receive special certificates.

Book chapter publication: We will publish a book that features the projects presented at PhysTech 2026. Selected participants will be invited to extend their project abstracts and publish them as book chapters. We are planning to publish this book through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. See PhysTech 2025 book for your reference.

Judging Criteria:

• Impact: How much impact (quality and quantity) can this project have? Does it solve a big problem or a small problem? Will it inspire or help many or a few?
• Creativity: How creative/innovative is this project? Is it something that hasn’t been attempted before, or is it an incremental improvement on something that already exists?
• Presentation: How well did the team/individual communicate this project? Was the presentation effective in telling the story of the project: why it is important, what challenge it addresses, and how it delivers a solution?

Judges:

• PhysTech Advisory Board

Organizing Committee:

• Konomi Karube (Co-chair)
• Naomi McCreary
• Rei Nagata (Co-chair)
• Hanna Suzuki (Co-chair)
• Alyssa Yasuhara (Co-chair)
• Rimi Yoshikawa

Advisory Board:

• Shun Nagata
• Sarasa Ouchi

Merchandise: