The IEEEDuino – IEEE Region 8 Student Hardware Contest is a hardware design and build contest. Selected students have one week to build, program, test, and demonstrate hardware, either individually or in teams of up to three, and entries are judged. Winners will be awarded prizes as described and all entries will receive a participation certificate. All students that wish to enter the contest must submit a proposal and design document in advance of the ‘design stage’ deadline to be considered for the contest.

By participating in this contest, participants agree to abide by the terms and conditions as established by IEEE. IEEE reserves the right to qualify all submissions and to reject any submissions that do not meet the requirements for participation as established by IEEE.

Contest: IEEEDuino – IEEE Region 8 Student Hardware Contest (the “Contest”)

Sponsor:  The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Incorporated, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA, 08854 (“Sponsor”)

Eligibility: The Contest is open to residents of the IEEE Region 8 geographical region, where permitted by local law, who are the age of eighteen (18) and older. Employees of the Sponsor, its agents, affiliates, and their immediate families are not eligible to enter the contest. Entrants may be subject to rules imposed by their institution or employer relative to their participation in contests and should check with their institution or employer for any relevant policies. Void where prohibited by law.

To be eligible to enter this contest, you must meet the following requirements:

 

    • Your entire team must be comprised of active IEEE student or graduate student members.
    • You must be registered in one of the participating IEEE sections within Region 8, which will be listed on the website in advance of registration opening.
    • You must be registered as a participant for this contest. A team leader must be appointed at registration as the primary point of contact.
    • Your entry must be your own original work.
    • You may work on your project at home or within your university laboratories if permitted.
    • Your team may be supported and promoted by your university IEEE student branch and/or your IEEE section officers, although this is not mandatory. If an IEEE student branch participates in this contest, this may be recorded as an L31 activity on IEEE vTools.
    • Additional hardware and building resources must be purchased or otherwise sourced by your team, and will remain the property of your team throughout the contest. No financial support is available from IEEE for the purchase of additional hardware or computer equipment, other than the supply of the Arduino Nano and kit. Hardware may be loaned or donated by any external party such as your university or IEEE section officers. No additional marks will be awarded for the use of external hardware.
    • You must have the means to record a video of the finished device in operation to demonstrate its capabilities.

 

Agreement to Official Rules:  By participating in this contest, entrants agree to abide by the terms and conditions thereof as established by Sponsor. Sponsor reserves the right to alter any of these Official Rules at any time and for any reason. All decisions made by Sponsor concerning the Contest including, but not limited to the cancellation of the Contest, shall be final and at its sole discretion.  

Entry Period:  This contest commences on the date and time posted on the IEEEDuino social media page and website. Sponsor’s server is the official clock for the Contest. Entries received before or after the entry period are void. 

Posted contest deadlines will be adhered to where possible, however time-zone differences, public/religious holidays and (for the build phase) delivery delays will be accounted for and may result in final deadline variation between teams and/or sections. Please contact the team for further details.

How To Enter: 

Student members are invited to enter the contest, either alone or in teams of up to three, which will be delivered in two phases:

 

    • The design and ideas phase, during which students will plan, design and/or simulate and justify their proposal. Circuit diagrams, example code and simulations should be included in this submission. A template document will be made available on the IEEEDuino website for submission guidance.
    • From the submitted ideas, 10 submissions will be selected to participate in the build phase, in accordance with the marking criteria which will be made available on the IEEEDuino website.
    • The build phase, where selected participants will receive an Arduino Nano microcontroller, funded by IEEE Region 8, to develop their idea. Students may build their design at home, or may use their university laboratories to extend the hardware using passive and active components on a breadboard. No additional marks will be awarded for the use of external hardware. A time limit of one week from receiving the hardware will apply to this stage.
    • The final entries will be judged via a video submission, where the device is demonstrated and explained. A high-resolution photograph of the entry and a copy of the code will also be required for judging. If additional hardware is used within the design, a bill of materials for this hardware must also be provided, and any changes to the originally submitted design must be stated.

 

Only entries submitted in accordance with these Official Rules will be eligible for consideration. No alternate means of entry are permitted. All entries become the exclusive property of the Sponsor and will not be acknowledged or returned.

Selection of Winner: 

The decision of the judges, in both the design and build stages, is final. Judging will be based on a number of criteria, including the design and research process, if the design is realisable within the timescale, the manufacturing or build process, innovation and originality, and the practicality and usefulness of the idea with reference to the annual ‘theme’.

Copyright and Exclusions

Your entire entry must only include material (including hardware, source code – both open source and third-party sourced, user interface, music, video or images) that you own or that you have permission from the copyright/trademark owner to use. Your and/or your team’s entry may not include copyrighted materials (such as source code, user interface, background music, images or video) unless you own or have permission to use the materials. Your entry may be disqualified if copyrighted materials, including but not limited to these examples, are a part of your entry without appropriate licensing or permissions.

If you do use permissible copyrighted materials, you must include the permissions information by citing the artist/creator and license information. Note that even material released under sites such as Creative Commons, common open source code licenses, and other similar licensing may need permission or acknowledgment as per the specific license.

Project entries must NOT contain ANY of the following content:

 

    • Content that is sexually explicit, profane or pornographic.
    • Content that is violent or derogatory of any ethnic, racial, gender, religious, professional or age group.
    • Content that promotes illegal drugs, firearms/weapons (or the use of any of the foregoing) or any particular political agenda.
    • Content that is obscene or offensive.
    • Content that defames, misrepresents or contains disparaging remarks about other people or companies.
    • Content that communicates messages or images inconsistent with the positive images and/or good will to which the IEEE wish to associate.
    • Content that violates any law.

 

Prize:  The prize(s) for the Contest are being sponsored by IEEE.  The winner(s) (the “Prize Winner(s)”) shall receive $400 First place, $250 second place and $100 third place cash rewards (the “Prize”).  Sponsor reserves the right to substitute a prize or prize component of equal or greater value in its sole discretion for any reason at time of award.  Sponsor shall not be responsible for service obligations or warranty (if any) in relation to the prize(s). Prize may not be transferred prior to award. All other expenses associated with use of the prize, including, but not limited to local, state, or federal taxes on the Prize, are the sole responsibility of the winner.  Winner(s) understand that delivery of a prize may be void where prohibited by law and agrees that Sponsor shall have no obligation to substitute an alternate prize when so prohibited. 

Notification of Potential Prize Winners:  The Prize Winners will be notified by e-mail within 14 days of the selection date.  If a Prize Winner does not acknowledge acceptance of the Prize within 14 business days after being notified that he or she is a Prize Winner, or if a potential Prize Winner does not return the signed claim forms within the required time, or is otherwise found to be ineligible or not in full compliance with these Official Rules, another Prize Winner will be chosen using the same procedure specified above. Potential Prize Winner may be asked to execute and return to Sponsor a declaration of eligibility and liability/publicity release, where lawful, within fourteen (14) days of attempted notification. Winner may waive the right to receive the prize. The decisions of Sponsor are final and binding in all respects.

Release, Publicity, and Privacy:  By receipt of the Prize and/or, if requested, by signing an affidavit of eligibility and liability/publicity release, the Prize Winner consents to the use of his or her name, likeness, business name and address by Sponsor for advertising and promotional purposes, including but not limited to on Sponsor’s social media pages, without any additional compensation, except where prohibited.  No entries will be returned.  All entries become the property of Sponsor.  The Prize Winner agrees to release and hold harmless Sponsor and its officers, directors, employees, affiliated companies, agents, successors and assigns from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the Contest.  

Sponsor assumes no responsibility for computer system, hardware, software or program malfunctions or other errors, failures, delayed computer transactions or network connections that are human or technical in nature, or for damaged, lost, late, illegible or misdirected entries; technical, hardware, software, electronic or telephone failures of any kind; lost or unavailable network connections; fraudulent, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmissions whether caused by Sponsor, the users, or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in this Contest; or by any technical or human error that may occur in the processing of submissions or downloading, that may limit, delay or prevent an entrant’s ability to participate in the Contest.

Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend this contest and award a prize from entries received up to the time of termination or suspension should virus, bugs or other causes beyond Sponsor’s control, unauthorized human intervention, malfunction, computer problems, phone line or network hardware or software malfunction, which, in the sole opinion of Sponsor, corrupt, compromise or materially affect the administration, fairness, security or proper play of the contest or proper submission of entries.  Sponsor is not liable for any loss, injury or damage caused, whether directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from downloading data or otherwise participating in this Contest. 

Right to Use Entries:  By entering the Contest, entrants grant Sponsor a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide right and license to reproduce, publish, display, edit and otherwise use the submitted Entries, and entrant’s full name and city and state/province/country of residence, photograph, likeness, voice and institutional affiliation, in print or any offline or online and other media for purposes of editorials, exhibition, advertising, publicity and promotion without additional compensation or permission, unless prohibited by law.

Representations and Warranties Regarding Entries: By submitting an Entry, you represent and warrant that your Entry does not and shall not comprise, contain, or describe, as determined in Sponsor’s sole discretion: (A) false statements or any misrepresentations of your affiliation with a person or entity; (B) personally identifying information about you or any other person; (C) statements or other content that is false, deceptive, misleading, scandalous, indecent, obscene, unlawful, defamatory, libelous, fraudulent, tortious, threatening, harassing, hateful, degrading, intimidating, or racially or ethnically offensive; (D) conduct that could be considered a criminal offense, could give rise to criminal or civil liability, or could violate any law; (E) any advertising, promotion or other solicitation, or any third party brand name or trademark; or (F) any virus, worm, Trojan horse, or other harmful code or component. By submitting an Entry, you represent and warrant that you own the full rights to the Entry and have obtained any and all necessary consents, permissions, approvals and licenses to submit the Entry and comply with all of these Official Rules, and that the submitted Entry is your sole original work, has not been previously published, released or distributed, and does not infringe any third-party rights or violate any laws or regulations.

Limitations of Liability/Reserved Rights:  Neither Sponsor, its parent, subsidiary or affiliated companies, nor its advertising or promotional agencies shall have any obligation, liability or responsibility with regard to (i) entries that contain incorrect or inaccurate information or do not comply with these Official Rules, (ii) entries, prize claims or notifications that are lost, late, incomplete, illegible, unintelligible, damaged or otherwise not received by the intended recipient, in whole or in part, due to computer, technical or other error of any kind, (iii) telephone, electronic, hardware, software, network, Internet or computer malfunctions, failures or difficulties of any kind, (iv) any condition caused by events beyond the control of Sponsor that may cause the Contest to be disrupted or delayed, (v) any printing or typographical errors in these Official Rules or any other materials associated with the Contest, or (vi) any damages or losses of any kind caused by any prize or resulting from participation in the Contest, accessing, uploading or downloading data in connection with the Contest, or acceptance, possession or use of any prize.  Sponsor, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any entrant tampering with or abusing the entry process or the operation of the Contest or otherwise violating these Official Rules.  Sponsor, in its sole discretion, further reserves the right to cancel, terminate, suspend or modify the Contest if the Contest cannot be completed as planned because of infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort and to select a winner from among eligible entries unaffected by such event, if any.

Disputes: EACH ENTRANT AGREES THAT: (1) ANY AND ALL DISPUTES, CLAIMS, AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS CONTEST, OR ANY PRIZES AWARDED, SHALL BE RESOLVED INDIVIDUALLY, WITHOUT RESORTING TO ANY FORM OF CLASS ACTION, PURSUANT TO ARBITRATION CONDUCTED UNDER THE COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION RULES OF THE AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION THEN IN EFFECT, (2) ANY AND ALL CLAIMS, JUDGMENTS AND AWARDS SHALL BE LIMITED TO ACTUAL OUT-OF-POCKET COSTS INCURRED, INCLUDING COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ENTERING THIS CONTEST, BUT IN NO EVENT ATTORNEYS’ FEES; AND (3) UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL ANY ENTRANT BE PERMITTED TO OBTAIN AWARDS FOR, AND ENTRANT HEREBY WAIVES ALL RIGHTS TO CLAIM, PUNITIVE, INCIDENTAL, AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, AND ANY OTHER DAMAGES, OTHER THAN FOR ACTUAL OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES, AND ANY AND ALL RIGHTS TO HAVE DAMAGES MULTIPLIED OR OTHERWISE INCREASED.  ALL ISSUES AND QUESTIONS CONCERNING THE CONSTRUCTION, VALIDITY, INTERPRETATION AND ENFORCEABILITY OF THESE OFFICIAL RULES, OR THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF ENTRANT AND SPONSOR IN CONNECTION  WITH THE CONTEST, SHALL BE GOVERNED BY, AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH, THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY, WITHOUT GIVING EFFECT TO ANY CHOICE OF LAW OR CONFLICT OF LAW, RULES OR PROVISIONS (WHETHER OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION) THAT WOULD CAUSE THE APPLICATION OF THE LAWS OF ANY JURISDICTION OTHER THAN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY.  SPONSOR IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY TYPOGRAPHICAL OR OTHER ERROR IN THE PRINTING OF THE OFFER OR ADMINISTRATION OF THE CONTEST OR IN THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PRIZES.  
Contest Results and Official Rules:  To obtain the identity of the Prize Winner and/or a copy of these Official Rules, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to: The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Incorporated (“IEEE”), 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA, 08854.

More details about the latest contest rules and eligibility can be found here.