Opportunity brief
Embedded Programming Challenge (EPC 2027)
The Embedded Programming Challenge (EPC 2027) is a two-round technical competition conducted by Elecfest, IIT Madras, under the Events and Workshops vertical of Shaastra.
Designed for students passionate about embedded systems and low-level engineering, the challenge tests participants' problem-solving, debugging, programming, and hardware-oriented engineering skills. Participants will encounter challenges involving digital logic, low-level C programming, microcontroller architectures, real-time operating systems, peripheral interfacing, and sensor systems.
The competition progresses from an online proctored quiz to a series of engineering challenges, rewarding logical reasoning, implementation quality, efficiency, and the ability to handle edge cases.
Participants are encouraged to bring their technical knowledge, attention to detail, and engineering problem-solving skills to this challenge.
Event Structure
Round 1
- Duration: 1.5 hours - Format: Online proctored quiz - Participation: Individual or teams of up to 2 members - Qualification: Top 25 teams advance to Round 2
The round consists of MCQs, fill-in-the-blanks, error detection/missing-code questions, and comprehension-based questions.
Marking Scheme:
- MCQs: +3 for correct answers, −1 for incorrect answers. - Fill in the Blanks: +3 for correct answers. - Error Detection/Missing Code: +4 for correct implementations, with partial marking allowed. - Comprehension: +1 per correct subpart.
Round 2
- Duration: 3 hours - Team Size: Up to 2 members
The final round consists of 3–4 mandatory engineering challenges and one elective challenge selected by each team. Datasheets and documentation for active components will be shared beforehand.
Evaluation will consider functionality, component efficiency, solution optimisation, implementation creativity, and edge-case handling.
Rules and Guidelines
- Round 1 is open to individual participants and teams of up to 2 members. - Only the top 25 qualifying teams advance to Round 2. - Eligible individual qualifiers may form teams before Round 2 begins. Two individual qualifiers who merge will be treated as one team. - Participants must follow the instructions and procedures communicated by the organisers. - Hint usage in Round 2 is limited to one hint per question and a maximum of half the total questions in the final round. The prescribed hint-earning mechanism applies to mandatory questions. - In case of a tie, the published round-specific tie-breaker criteria will apply.
Certificates
- Winners: Hard-copy certificates. - Finalists: Soft-copy certificates. -
Participants: Soft-copy certificates.