University of Central Missouri to Provide Support for VRoKCs Fall 2021 Hackathon

The University of Central Missouri will sponsor a unique event for high school students interested in virtual and augmented reality software development. VRoKCs Fall 2021 Hackathon will be held Dec. 3-5 with students from ninth through 12th grades competing virtually from their respective homes. 

 

VRoKCs Hackathon problem statement will be revealed on Dec. 3 to the participating teams. Using design thinking and collaboration, each team will build a functioning AR/VR prototype that addresses the defined problem. Technical mentors and subject matter experts will be available during the hackathon to provide additional assistance as well as online support and collaboration tools. 

 

The event will conclude with teams submitting their final project and pitching their video online. Submitted projects will be judged by a panel of AR/VR and industry partners. 

 

Following the challenge, the teams can receive assistance in building their prototype into a minimum viable product (MVP).

 

UCM’s sponsorship includes support for the teams along with providing judges for the hackathon.

 

VRoKCs is a non-profit, software development mentoring program for high school students based in Kansas City and beyond.

 

UCM’s Missouri Innovation Campus, located in Lee’s Summit, is home to the university’s state-of-the-art Mixed Reality Studio, a part of UCM’s Gigabit Lab. This new facility opened during 2020 with the goal of advancing technology in virtual and augmented technology by developing new applications and educating the next generation of researchers, developers and entrepreneurs while collaborating with industry. The Mixed Reality Studio is equipped with various software and design platforms, multiple headset configurations, workstations, filming and graphic resources.