Project Guidelines

If you're wondering what you're allowed to build, here's a quick guide on what we generally look for! Please keep in mind these are just guidelines, so always feel free to ask in #highway!

above all though, the bottom line is this: build something awesome, something that you would be proud to keep in your room for the next 5 years, and something that you would be proud to show other people

Overview

Here's an overall list of criteria that applies to all tiers, regardless of your budget/points.

Originality & idea

Almost every idea out there has been thought of before - what matters is that when designing it, which means that you do not do the following:

Directly copy paste schematics
Directly copy paste layouts
Directly copy paste entire programs
Directly copy paste 3D printed / manufactured models (reference parts are OK)
In general, do not copy paste stuff directly - use them as references

Generally speaking, each project must be closer to a product than a demo - that doesn't mean go ultra advertising mode, but that does mean that a breadboarded together project with no case doesn't count

(more to be added)

Tiers & examples

I want to make it clear that there is no idea that wouldn't qualify for at least 6 points. It's all about how you implement it and the level polish you add

4 points ($50, 8-20 hours)

This is the cheapest tier. It's meant for smaller projects that take roughly 8-12 hours to design & physically build. Examples include:

DIY Macropad
Small mini PCB business card

6 points ($150, 20-50 hours)

This is the middle tier! It's where most projects should fall under. Generally speaking, you're expected to have both a set of electronics and 3D modelled case, unless you have a particularly complex PCB (i.e a devboard)

Examples include:

DIY Game console w/ case
DIY minecraft jukebox
Full split keyboard
DIY PC audio to FM radio usb adapter

10 points ($350, 50-200+ hours)

This is the highest tier. It's for projects that take anywhere from 50-200+ hours. Many of these take multiple iterations to contiunously build and work on. These are usually CAD heavy, as PCBs are very hard to iterate on unless you have an SMD setup

Custom 3D printer
Battlebot with custom attachments

Examples

Here are some examples of great projects by Hack Clubbers:

@Ducc's Spotify Display, a Spotify Car Thing Clone
@Cyao's Icepi Zero, an FPGA development dev board
@vk6's Ender X4, a 4-toolhead 3D printer

Here are some examples of what not to build:

Arduino alarm clock
Humidity display
Distance sensor

Here's some examples of how you could make those projects better:

Arduino alarm clock, but it has custom LED lighting that syncs with the time of day & also has a slide switch instead of a button to control it
A humidity display that's part of a larger weather station setup and compares the internal readings of your house to the outside world
A distance sensor that checks if someone is coming to your room & sends an alert to your phone if they do