Participate in the first Assistive Robotics Hackathon

LabORA is organizing its first-ever LabORA Assistive Robotics Hackathon, an initiative that will bring together students, companies, research centers, and organizations in the sector to develop innovative solutions with social impact. The TIC Salut i Social Foundation is actively collaborating by presenting three challenges and offering mentoring services.

In total, the hackathon will offer participants the opportunity to work for several weeks on six real-world challenges posed by organizations linked to healthcare and assistive robotics. Throughout the process, teams will receive specialized mentoring support from professionals at the TIC Salut i Social Foundation, among other entities, and will be able to present their proposals to a jury of industry professionals.

In addition to the learning experience and direct contact with the innovation ecosystem, participants will be eligible for €6,000 in prizes, divided into three awards of €2,000 each.

Challenges presented by the TIC Salut i Social Foundation

The TIC Salut i Social Foundation has set three challenges aimed at promoting innovative digital solutions in the field of health and care for individuals. The first challenge proposes developing a solution that allows professionals to perform cognitive and functional screenings in an agile and standardized way, and facilitates the monitoring of individuals, especially in care homes and rural areas.

The second challenge focuses on enabling assistive robots to adapt to the dialect, vocabulary, and expressions of each user. The goal is to offer more natural and personalized communication, improving the acceptance and interaction of elderly or dependent individuals with this technology.

The third challenge seeks to develop a telerehabilitation solution that allows sessions to be conducted from home or care facilities. The proposal should facilitate exercise guidance and allow for monitoring by professionals, contributing to improved access to rehabilitation for people with mobility difficulties.

Registrations open

Registration for the first edition of the LabORA Assistive Robotics Hackathon 2026 is now open at this link, and places are limited. The event is open to university, master’s, doctoral, and vocational training students, who can participate individually or in teams.

The 2026 LabORA Assistive Robotics Hackathon is carried out with the support of the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia – BarcelonaTech (UPC) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).