Hack Club Outpost

The greatest hardware adventure yet.

This event is split into three parts:

Part 1: make hardware projects!

Design the PCB and CAD for your hardware projects!

Submit your finished design to get a grant up to 350+ USD to purchase the parts for your project. Build your project irl!

Then, reach 100% progression to receive your ticket to Outpost (hackathon + showcase)! You can also convert Stardust at a rate of 3 Stardust to 1% progression by asking in #outpost-support on Slack.

June 1 - July 31

Part 2: Outpost Hackathon!

Outpost is a 72h hardware hackathon in San Francisco! You'll be in a group of teens and try making a project from start to finish.

During this time, you'll also be fixing up your hardware projects that might've gotten broken in transport in preparation for the Open Sauce showcase!

July 14 - 17

Part 3: Showcase at Open Sauce!

Here, you will spend 2 days sharing a booth with other teens showcasing both your hackathon and your hardware projects.

Open Sauce is the world's biggest maker faire, with a bunch of engineering creators there too! There's plenty of talks and panels, as well as other booths you can check out.

Participants will be leaving morning of the 20th.

July 18 - 19

Hack Club's RMRRF booth!

What can I make?

All projects fall under one of these catagories, sorted by how hard they are to make.

Their catagory determines the grant amount you'll get to build them:

B tier project

Up to $25 grant

30% progression towards Outpost ticket

Macropads and very basic PCBs are examples of B tier projects! Examples:

A tier project

Up to $120 grant

50% progression towards Outpost ticket

Keyboards and devboards are examples of A tier projects! Examples:

Travel Buddy

S tier project

Up to $180 grant

100% progression towards Outpost ticket

Examples:

X tier project

For projects that are truly out of this world that need higher grants, we'll work with you on a one-on-one basis to get you a higher grant, as well as travel stipends.

100% progression towards Outpost ticket

Examples:

If you add a cool twist and polish to your project, we will also bump it up a tier. For example, a keyboard is normally an A tier project, but the Biblically Accurate Keyboard counts as S tier.

LEARN MORE

Ready to apply for a grant?

SUBMIT HARDWARE DESIGN

Get your ticket by reaching 100% progression!

Your Outpost Ticket is awarded once you reach 100% progression. You can get progression by designing hardware projects.

If you have Stardust from Stardance, you can also convert it at a rate of 3 Stardust to 1% progression by asking in #outpost-support on Slack!

Is this all free?

Yes! We will cover your food and stay during the event. If you qualify, all you need to do is get yourself there!

Can I get grants without going to the IRL event?

Yes! The flow is the same; design it, then fill out the grant form!

Can I go to Open Sauce without going to the hackathon?

You can buy yourself a general admission ticket separately. You can also purchase housing for the duration of Open Sauce—ask in #outpost-support on Slack for more details!

How many grants are you giving out?

As many projects as people submit! Feel free to build as many projects as you want - but remember, it still needs to meet quality criteria to be approved!

Thank you to Reflect Orbital for donating 10k to help get teens to Hack Club Outpost!

Hack Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and network of 100k+ technical high schoolers. We believe you learn best by building, so we're creating community and providing grants so you can make awesome projects. In the past few years, we've sent 30 teen hackers hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, hosted a hackathon for the worst ideas, and ran the largest hardware hackathon at GitHub HQ.

Read about Hack Club in The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and NASA.gov, or watch us on stage with AMD CEO Lisa Su at CES.

Made with ♥︎ by teenagers, for teenagers at Hack Club