Developer Competition: Beyond Touchscreens [Now Closed]

Posted; June 18, 2020

Meet the winners of our competition here!

Developers, the world needs your help! Ultraleap is kicking off a 3-week competition for developers to build innovative public interfaces for a post-COVID-19 world.

The world is changing. Few people used to care about touching screens thousands had touched before. Now, only 12% of people think that public touchscreens in places such as restaurants, banks, and airports are hygienic.

How can hand tracking and our talented developer community help? We want you to use our Leap Motion Controller and SDK to develop a proof of concept that allows you to control a kiosk, ATM, museum installation, or any other public interface without touching a screen.

There will also be the opportunity to work with Ultraleap to see if the winning ideas can be developed further.

The competition opens on Thursday 18th June and runs for three weeks, until Thursday 9th July.

In the short term, hand tracking can be retrofitted to existing touchscreens. You can use the same interface, but operate it without coming into contact with the screen.

In the longer term, however, tracking will be integrated from day one. And moving away from interacting by touching 2D screens not only addresses the issue of hygiene but opens up new spaces for innovation and creativity.

Your proof of concept could address one of the following, or be something else that you care about and think would benefit from a touchless interface.  

We’ll be looking for proofs of concept that demonstrate innovative and creative use of our SDK and offer real, tangible benefits to users. This could include things such as new cursors, new ways to use mid-air gestures to control 2D screens or new visual designs for touchless UI. It’s important to consider the real-world applications of your idea, and think about who the users might be.

We can’t wait to see what you'll create.

Make sure you’re following us on Twitter at @ultraleap_devs and use the hashtag #beyondtouchscreens to join the conversation. Don’t forget to check out our community forum thread and Reddit for the latest updates, to ask questions and discuss your project with fellow devs.

Submit your application in the form below, with the following information:

1. Submission name
Five words max, please!

2. Short description
Describe your entry in a couple of sentences

3. Link to repository with working source code
A publicly accessible location such as GitHub, GitLab or Bitbucket where the judges can download, examine, and evaluate the code behind the solution. You can provide an additional description, diagrams, and demos in the repository. You must have working code – not just an idea or proposal – to enter the competition. If you do not, please continue to work on your project and submit it later when it’s ready.

4. Link to a demo video
Record a demo of your project, upload it to YouTube or Vimeo and share the URL. Five minutes is the maximum length. Keep in mind that non-technical judges may rely on this more than technical documentation. You can also share this video publicly if you want.

5. Long description
Write up to 250 words that covers your entry in more detail. Please include why you feel it meets the brief of how public interfaces could evolve beyond the touchscreen, where your idea will be used and how it either improves on the way users currently interact, or enables them to do something new and valuable.

Joint submissions are accepted. Please add full team (names and email addresses) into the long description box.

Terms and conditions

This competition is promoted by:

Ultraleap, The West Wing, Glass Wharf, Bristol, BS2 0EL, England

See our full terms and conditions.