IEEE HardwAIre Challenge
Get ready for the new IEEE HART HardwAIre Challenge: Building the Future of Intelligent Hardware!
Are you ready to blend artificial intelligence with practical hardware engineering? We are thrilled to announce the IEEE HART HardwAIre Challenge, a global hands-on competition that tasks student teams with designing, building, and testing innovative hardware solutions.
The Challenge: Your team will design and build a hardware prototype that meets the specifications of a challenge to be announced on 15 June 2026. The twist? Your hardware must explicitly integrate artificial intelligence—either by using AI to assist in the hardware design process, or by incorporating AI into the operation of the prototype itself. Your solution will be judged on key performance indicators including the lowest possible cost, energy efficiency, minimal size and weight, and maximum communication range.
How It Works:
- Form a team: Gather three or more IEEE Student or Graduate Student members, and one faculty supervisor.
- Apply: The challenge details will be announced here on 15 June, and an application form will open. The competition is strictly capped at 50 teams, and speed matters. Those who enter early have a higher chance of acceptance into the round of 50.
- Start building: Accepted teams can receive financial reimbursement (via the HART Lab-in-a-Box initiative) to purchase necessary components, tools, and instrumentation to build your system.
- Submit: Design your prototype and submit a video presentation showcasing your device and process, actual measurements, and exactly how AI impacted your final solution.
- Win big: The top 3 finalist teams will win travel support to demonstrate their working prototypes live to a panel of expert judges at an upcoming IEEE event. The winning team will receive a US$2,000 cash prize and a plaque, while the other two finalists will each receive US$500.
Interested? You can sign up for challenge alerts here. Meanwhile, we recommend you gather your team so you can be ready!
Other IEEE Hardware-focused Competitions
- IMS2026 Student Design Competitions – sponsored by MTT-S at IMS2026
- SDC1 – Hands-on 5G Filter Design from CAE to Measurement in the Sub 6 Band (PDF, 824 KB)
- SDC2 – RF Bias Tee Design for Active Baseband Load-pull Applications (PDF, 454 KB)
- SDC3 – Tunable Impedance Matching Network (PDF, 311 KB)
- SDC4 – Allen Katz High Efficiency Power Amplifiers (HEPA) (PDF, 98 KB)
- SDC5 – High-Efficiency Power Amplifier for 220 MHz (PDF, 111 KB)
- SDC6 – Multiband Digital Predistortion for Power Amplifiers with Coupled Interference (PDF, 180 KB)
- SDC7 – Low Cost Reflectometer (PDF, 158 KB)
- SDC8 – High-Sensitivity Biomedical Radar for Multi-Person Vital Sign Sensing (PDF, 327 KB)
- LLMs for Hardware Design Challenge – sponsored by Computer Society at ICCD 2025
- SSCS Arduino Contest – sponsored by SSCS, for high school and undergraduate students, with recommended kits
- CASS Student Design Competition – sponsored by CAS, an annual worldwide challenge for undergraduate students focused on solving real-life problems using circuits and systems
- AP-S Student Design Contest – sponsored by AP-S, where students design a compact, multi-functional antenna system for automotive applications of your choice
- AHA! (AI-based Hardware Attacks) Challenge – co-sponsored by Computer Society, a red-team/blue-team hacking competition at HOST 2026 where teams use LLMs to either insert or detect hardware Trojans
- HOST Hardware Hacking Competition – co-sponsored by Computer Society, a live demo-based contest focused on identifying vulnerabilities and breaking barriers in modern hardware systems
- SoutheastCon Hardware Competition – sponsored by IEEE Region 3, a major regional event featuring multi-stage robotics challenges and circuit design contests
- MYOSA – Make Your Own Sensors Applications, sponsored by Sensors Council