Student Innovation Challenge (SIC)
Proposal submission deadline: February 26, 2021 extended to March 5, 2021 (11:59 p.m. PST)
The Student Innovation Challenge (SIC) invites students to use haptic technology in new, creative ways to solve real-world problems. For the first time this year, the 2021 IEEE World Haptics Conference (WHC) will be fully online, so the main challenge for student teams will be to propose a replicable project. Teams will work on designing and producing vibrotactile feedback with an open-source and self-contained kit driven by embedded multi-channel audio signal processing. Applications are varied: accessibility, education, entertainment, environmental technology, or other ideas altogether are all possibilities.
Important Dates
March 5, 2021 (extended): Proposals due (11:59 p.m. PST)
March 12, 2021: Teams notified
March 19, 2021: Hardware sent to teams
June 18, 2021 (11:59 p.m. PST): Repositories and videos due
July 6-9, 2021: World Haptics Conference including SIC session and awards
Proposals
To enter the challenge, a team must submit a two-page/1500-word proposal, including a short pitch (30 words maximum), a description (300 words description), concept images and/or sketches, and names of all team members and their qualifications (level, experience and backgrounds; a web-link to an online portfolio or website is preferred). Each team will also provide a contact name, email address, and a physical address for shipment of the hardware.
To apply, teams should contact SIC chairs by email sic@2021.worldhaptics.org and enclose their two-page proposal in PDF format.
Interested teams will complete the submission form, sign the participant agreement, and submit their proposal by 11:59 p.m. PST on February 26. If you have any questions, please email sic@2021.worldhaptics.org.
To submit, each team must:
1. Complete the online submission form at: https://forms.gle/dFYPZ5mfXKWChLZQ9
2. Email their two-page proposal document in PDF format to sic@2021.worldhaptics.org with “Proposal:” in the subject line.
Your proposal should help us understand:
▪ The problem you are trying to solve and why it is important.
▪ What your application will do and how people will interact with it.
▪ Why a vibrotactile display is appropriate for your application.
▪ The list of sensors your project requires (see Hardware and Software Kit section).
▪ A roadmap for development and how your team’s skills can achieve them.
▪ If your project can be replicated by SIC chairs with their local copy of the kit and by relying on easily sourceable home/office supplies.
Your personal statements and work samples should help us understand:
▪ How your skill set will contribute to your team.
▪ Past results in time-constrained situations.
Good design requires iteration, and we don’t expect your final app to be exactly as you describe in your submission, but your concept description should be well thought out, and it should have a plausible chance of working. You can find examples of previous SIC projects for past WHC editions: application domain-specific in 2019 (VR and mobility), hardware-specific in 2017 (2 DoF force feedback), and 2015 (programmable friction).
Teams
The challenge is open to undergraduate and graduate students. Teams may have between 2 and 5 members. Teams are free to enlist one creative professional as advisor among professors, teachers, designers, engineers; but the work must be done by the students only, and all team members must be students at the time of submitting the application.
We encourage participation from students from communities under-represented in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) fields. We aim at increasing the participation of groups traditionally underrepresented in robotics and haptics research (including but not limited to: women, LGBTQ+, underrepresented minorities, and people with disabilities).
Notifications: Five to seven teams will be chosen, all authors of proposals will be notified of acceptance or rejection by March 12.
Hardware and Software Kit
Selected teams will be shipped by March 19 a hardware kit featuring:
▪ 1 Syntacts board (an open-source 8-channel amplifier designed for driving vibrators from audio sources – https://www.syntacts.org),
▪ 8 LRA vibrotactile actuators (https://www.vibration-motor.com/coin-vibration-motors/coin-linear-resonant-actuators-lra/g1040003d),
▪ 1 multichannel soundcard,
▪ 1 Raspberry Pi 4 (https://www.raspberrypi.org),
▪ and a set of sensors as defined by each proposal among: accelerometers (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9269), FSRs (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9375, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9376), Flex (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10264) and Pulse (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11574) if requested.
Teams can only use actuators, sensors, boards, and electronics hardware included with the hardware kit; but are free to create their own mechanical components as long as these can be replicated from easily sourceable home/office supplies (cardboard, paper clips, rubber bands…), not requiring automated fabrication hardware such as laser cutters or 3d printers. Teams may embed the kit in enclosures, vests or mats, if desired. Teams will keep their hardware kit after the challenge.
A software kit with documentation will be provided by the SIC chairs by March 19 in the form of public git repositories and a ready-to-run flashable filesystem image for Raspberry Pis.
Replication Repositories and Demo Video
Teams must release by 11:59 p.m. PST on June 18 their software that runs on Raspberry Pi platforms though the same 2 mediums: 1) a ready-to-run flashable image of their filesystem and 2) public git repositories of their software components and forks released under an open-source license. Teams must publish a documentation of their project on a public git repository with markdown text files and compatible media files to support the replication of their project, including: bills of materials, assembly guide, instructions for replicating and running their project.
Teams will submit by 11:59 p.m. PST on June 18 a two-minute video with captions and voice over. The video should briefly explain the problem being solved and show the application in action.
Presentation at the Conference
A special SIC session will allow the audience and judges to experience the projects online in the form of video demos, and to interact with team members through Q&A. At least one member per team should be present during the SIC session of the conference. The SIC Chairs will close the SIC session by announcing awards to teams.
Awards
Awards will be presented to the top submissions. A panel of judges representing both industry and academia will evaluate each application along these criteria:
▪ Quality of haptic feeling
▪ Originality/creativity
▪ Utility
▪ Quality of documentation / Ease of replicability
The winning team will be awarded a cash prize for the ”overall best interaction”. Additional cash prizes include: one “audience choice” award voted by conference attendees, and one “honorable mention”.
Student Innovation Challenge Co-Chairs
Christian Frisson – McGill University, Canada
Heather Culbertson – University of Southern California, USA
Jun Nishida – University of Chicago, USA
For questions, please contact sic@2021.worldhaptics.org.