Jinger Zeng
- @jinger_zeng
- | She/Her
Edge AI Earth Guardians: Hackster.io Contest to Promote Crossroads of Technology, Ecology, and Interspecies Connection
Edge AI Earth Guardians competition — hosted by Hackster.io and the EDGE AI Foundation — invites project submissions from WildLabs community. Deadline for submission is Sept 30.
Building on Hackster’s legacy of tech for good engineering competitions
Hackster has long championed the use of open source hardware and AI to solve real-world challenges, cultivating a vibrant community of engineers, artists, and changemakers. From the Elephant Edge initiative that empowered developers to create AI-enabled elephant tracking collars, to IoT Into the Wild, which catalyzed a global wave of plug-and-play conservation tools, Hackster’s competitions are not just showcases of innovation — they’re catalysts for impact.
These challenges have demonstrated that with the right tools and purpose, creators can design resilient, ethical, and scalable solutions that serve both people and the planet. The Edge AI Earth Guardians competition builds on this legacy, inviting the next wave of tech for good pioneers to create systems that don’t just detect nature, but actively protect and connect with it.
From spark to scale: Pathways to impact go-to-market
The Edge AI Earth Guardians competition is designed to support innovators at every stage of their journey through three tailored tracks, each offering a distinct pathway to advance their ideas and maximize impact.
- Track 1: From Idea to Prototype welcomes early-stage thinkers who are just beginning to explore how edge AI can support ecological protection — offering guidance, hardware support, and community resources to bring new concepts to life.
- Track 2: From Prototype to Market is intended for individuals with working demos or proof-of-concept systems, helping participants to refine their designs, enhance scalability, and explore pathways to real-world deployment.
- Track 3: Fast Track for Research-Backed Solutions is reserved for individuals or teams who have spent years developing robust, research-driven technologies and are ready to showcase or scale their work in collaboration with global partners.
Together, these tracks ensure that whether you’re a student, entrepreneur, or seasoned researcher, there's a pathway to turn your passion for nature and technology into lasting impact.
Embracing interspecies insight
This competition isn’t just about conservation tech embedded systems that run AI — the judging committee consists of stellar thought leaders promoting interdisciplinary perspectives that stretch beyond hardware and software, including Wildlabs 2024 Awardee Andrew Quitmeyer.
Ready to participate as an Earth Guardian?
The competition is on final countdown and still open for submission through September 30th. Finalists will be announced by mid-October, with top winners receiving a range of awards — including a $2,500 grand prize and a paid trip to Taiwan to present their work at EDGE AI FOUNDATION’s EDGE AI Taipei event in November 2025.
Here are the simple steps to participate:
- Sign up and register for the competition on Hackster.
- Create a project with clear documentation and submit to contest before September 30th.
- Learn more about other Hackster activities and leverage the global network to showcase your project to the world!