HACKDEV

Player select — Oct 10–11, 2026

ReadyPlayerOne

A 48-hour build at UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley. Three stages, 200 seats, and engineers from the companies shipping this stuff.

Insert applicationKey dates
Date
Oct 10–11, 2026
Where
UCSC Silicon Valley
Party
Up to 4
Seats
200
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— days to go

Stage select

Pick your stage

Three stages, one weekend. Pick one when you apply, or tell us you are undecided and we will help you land somewhere.

Stage 01

Cloud AI

Agentic workflows that live in the cloud. Orchestration, tool use, and multi-agent systems at scale.

OrchestrationTool useMulti-agent
Stage 02

Local AI

Everything running on a box you can carry. Models on 128GB or less — DGX Spark, Strix Halo, your laptop.

On-deviceQuantisationEdge
Stage 03

Physical AI

Agents with bodies. Robotics, autonomous vehicles, and machines that act on the world.

RoboticsAutonomySensing

Timeline

Key dates

  1. NowApplications openLiveApply any time before the final deadline.
  2. Sep 9Priority deadlineApply by this date for the best shot at a seat.
  3. Sep 25Applications closeLast call. Nothing accepted after this.
  4. Oct 10Doors openKeynote, stage briefings, sponsor workshops.
  5. Oct 11Demos and awardsJudging by partner engineers. Winners same day, done by 5pm.

High scores

We have run this before

RankRunResult
1STNVIDIA × ASUS78 submissions · $11K prizes200 builders
2NDUCSC AI HackathonOct 10–11, 2026 · Santa ClaraNow accepting!
78Submissions
$11KIn prizes
1,000Meals served

Player 1 – 5

Who runs it

PKPreet KariaDirectorSelectPGParsh GandhiOrganizerSelectELEmber LuOrganizerSelectPRPranitha RajaaOrganizerSelectAMAdhya MaddukuriOrganizerSelect

Backed by

Partners

SponsorVisit →In partnership withVisit →In partnership withVisit →

Want to sponsor?

We work with companies on stage naming, prizes, workshops, hardware and mentors. Tell us what you build and we will send the details.

hello@hackdev.org