NXP HoverGames Challenge 2: Help Drones, Help Others During Pandemics

The challenge

Pandemics threaten not only the health of everyone, they can also disrupt our way of life and inflict widespread societal and economic harm. Pandemics have the potential to break down geopolitical borders and reshape the entire course of history. The impact felt from the COVID-19 pandemic took just a few months to affect the health and livelihoods of everyone across the globe, but it has also shown just how vital technology can be in times of crisis.

We need to learn lessons from the past and find innovative ways to connect with each other, protect the vulnerable and meet critical demands in global health crises of the future. This is precisely what the NXP HoverGames seek to accomplish.

For this reason, we’re focusing on pandemics for the second challenge in the popular NXP HoverGames series. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to come up with an innovative way to use drones to help save lives or help people during a global pandemic.

Your code is needed!

A NXP HoverGames drone should be able to carry out its mission as autonomously as possible, with the help of your code. Your drone could be activated by a signal from an ill person and fly out immediately, providing a communication and data link at the scene for emergency responders. Your drone might be a part of an automated pharmaceutical dispatch unit, carrying essential prescriptions directly to vulnerable patients in their homes.

NXP HOVERGAMES IS YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO HELP

We want your imagination to run wild. The sky is literally the limit!

Your challenge is to come up with pioneering ways to use drones to protect people and communities, help healthcare and essential workers, and prevent the spread of the pandemic.

What will you enable your NXP HoverGames drone to do?
Drones could play a role before, during or after a pandemic – or even prevent a pandemic entirely by controlling outbreaks of disease. How could your code save lives and protect the world?

How about disinfecting surfaces, medicine delivery, dispensing hand sanitizer or masks on-demand, providing social support for quarantined patients or even collecting nasal and throat samples for testing? Or the provision of communication networks in places where internet availability is low? Drones can be flying medical personnel, flying network routers and even flying postal workers, delivering letters or handwritten notes to people in isolation.

TECH YOU'LL USE

You'll use the NXP HoverGames drone development kit. This modular, open development platform uses reliable automotive and industrial-grade components from NXP. You can experiment with additional hardware components from NXP and other providers – you are only bound by your own creativity. And your drone will be PX4-enabled, the largest commercially deployed open-source flight stack worldwide with business-friendly licensing.

The kit contains:

• Flight Management Unit (RDDRONE-FMUK66 FMU) that’s supported by the opensource PX4.org flight stack on top of NuttX RTOS.
• Strong, rigid lightweight carbon fiber quadcopter frame with platform, mounting rails, landing gear, motor controllers, motors and props
• Telemetry radio and remote control (RC) radio

Take your idea and apply for a hardware coupon, now until August 16th.

The top 100 applications chosen will receive a coupon.

• If you are new to the NXP HoverGames you pay only $300 (which is a $400 discount) to get the NXP HoverGames drone reference development kit, Remote Control and Telemetry Radio. PLUS, you'll receive our 8MMNavQ experimental custom companion computer using NXP i.MX 8M Mini Vision development board, with a camera module that runs Linux and ROS.
• If you have already joined the NXP HoverGames before and have a drone, pay only $50 ($150 discount) to receive the 8MMNavQ companion computer.

For details check the Apply for hardware

Further hardware recommendations:

• Teensy: Arduino compatible incorporating Kinetis and i.MX RT MCUs
• RT1010: 500GHz for $1
• UCANS32K146: UAVCAN development for sensors and actuators
• KW38: Bluetooth long-range module
• RDDRONE-BMS772: Battery management development board

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST ...

See complete contest rules. And, last but not least: stay safe and healthy! If there is a public health crisis in your area, respect social distancing rules and don’t put your health or anyone else’s at risk in order to test and develop your NXP HoverGames entry.

Prizes

Grand Prizes

1st Place

1 winner

Electronic Visa Gift Card (prize value in US dollars)

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$3,000 value

2nd Place

1 winner

Electronic Visa Gift Card (prize value in US dollars)

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$2,000 value

3rd Place

1 winner

Electronic Visa Gift Card (prize value in US dollars)

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$1,000 value

Bonus Prizes

40 winners

NXP hardware worth at least $100

We want you to win! 40 submissions will win awesome NXP early access mobile robotics hardware you can use with your drone after the contest.

Special Prizes

4 winners

Special Prizes sponsored by our partners

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$1,000 value

Special Prizes will be awared with $1000 each by our partners. Rewarded will be most innovative idea, best use of PX4 and other. Stay tuned!

Hackster Impact Prize

Join Hackster as we rally with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in order to make today's world a smarter, healthier place. The Hackster team will select five projects that best contribute to any of the SDGs. Please refer to the specific judging criteria for this prize category.

1 winner

$250 Gift card + $100 Adafruit Gift card + Video interview + More

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$530 value

The winner will receive the following:
- a $250 gift card;
- a $100 Adafruit gift card (special prize for Secure Everything contest);
- a 12-month subscription to Patchr Premium ($180 value);
- last but not least, they will be featured in a video interview with Hackster’s one and only Alex Glow.

Please visit the Hackster Impact Prize page for more information.

Judges

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