Rewired (Tech Hackathon)

Event Description:

Rewired is a build-and-pitch hackathon. Teams pick a real problem from this year's theme, turn it into a working prototype in 7 hours and pitch it to a jury. It rewards problem sharpness, sound execution, original thinking and the ability to explain why the idea matters to a real user. Coders, designers and business minds are all welcome.

Theme: The Invisible City

Every city runs on things nobody sees: voices no system understands, people who keep everything working but never appear in any database, waste nobody counts, and needs nobody says out loud. Find something real that the city overlooks, and build technology that makes it heard, seen, counted or said.

Event Design:

• Team size: 2 to 4 members.
• Eligibility: Open to currently enrolled students from any college or university with a valid college ID. Teams may be cross-college. One person, one team.
• Equipment: Participants must bring their own laptops, chargers, an extension board and any hardware they use. Power at every desk, Wi-Fi, meals and water are provided at the venue.
• The Gravity Well: At the start of the Offline Round, each team chooses 1 out of 2 envelopes. It reveals a real-world constraint that the team has to build around.
• Tools: Any language, framework, platform, API, library or AI tool may be used, provided it is declared.

Competition Rounds:

Online Round

• Topic: Restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets and households regularly have surplus food, while people nearby may struggle to afford meals. The challenge is often coordination, timing and safe distribution. Solve this challenge and submit the deliverables listed below for the online round selections.
• Challenge: Bridge the gap between those with excess food and those without access to it.
• Deliverable: One Concept Brief PDF of up to 2 pages (team, problem with real evidence, target user, proposed solution, tech approach, expected impact, and a 12-hour build plan) and one pitch video of up to 2 minutes in which at least two members appear and speak.
• Language: English or Hindi. Videos must have subtitles in English or Hindi.
• Format: PDF for the brief. .mp4, .mpeg, .avi or .mov for the video.
• Submission: Upload the brief and video to a Google Drive folder named "Rewired_Team_Name_MWRTMB" set to "Anyone with the link can view", and submit the Drive link, repository link and Orbit on Unstop.
• Inaccessible link:  If the link cannot be opened at the time of judging, it will be at the discretion of the OC whether the submission will be considered or not.
• Shortlisting: The Top 20 teams move to the Offline Round.

Offline Round – 19 November 2026

• Duration: Exactly 7 hours of build time, from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. The clock runs through meals and check-ins.
• Build window: All code, design and assets must be created inside the build window. Push the tags checkpoint-1 by 11:30 AM, checkpoint-2 by 2:30 PM and final by 5:00 PM. GitHub's server push times are the official record.
• Checkpoints: Each team is assigned one mentor for the day, who holds two check-ins of about 20 minutes during the build. Checkpoints are not scored.
• Problem Case: A new problem case will be presented to the team at the venue on the day of the offline round.
• Submission: Before 5:00 PM, submit the repository link and final commit, a demo link, a mandatory demo video of up to 2 minutes and a completed README through the Google Form provided at the start. Name the Drive folder "REWIRED_TeamID_MWRTMB" and set links to "Anyone with the link can view".
• Event Horizon Crossing: At 5:00 PM code is frozen. No pushes, Drive changes or redeployments after this point. The recorded final commit is what is judged.
• Final pitch: All teams pitch to one of four judging panels for 5 minutes, followed by 3 minutes of Q&A. The top teams from each panel go to the Final Orbit and pitch again to the Grand Jury for the top two places.
• Declarations: Declare all open-source libraries, templates, APIs, datasets and AI tools used, and confirm that the project was built by your team inside the build window through the google form that will be shared at the start.

Rules:

• Original work: The project must be built by the team inside the build window. Pre-existing projects, old code and borrowed products are not allowed. Open-source libraries, public APIs, templates, UI kits and official project generators are allowed if declared.
• AI: AI-assisted tools are allowed if declared. Any judge may ask any member to explain any part of the project. If a team cannot explain a core part, its Technical execution score is capped at 10/25.
• Prototype: Slide-only submissions are not allowed. A working prototype, even a partial one, is required for the Offline Round. If a live demo fails, the team may use its demo video within its pitch time.
• Team changes: Team members cannot be changed after the Online Round closes. A shortlisted team may replace or drop one member only with written OC approval.
• Data and IP: Teams must not use confidential or scraped personal data. Teams retain the IP of what they build. Milkyway may feature submissions for promotion with credit to the team.
• Pitch time: Pitches over 5 minutes will be cut off by the timekeeper.
• Conduct: Teams must follow the Code of Conduct and venue rules. Any harassment, sabotage, interference with another team or misuse of the network leads to immediate disqualification.
• Penalties: All violations will be dealt with under the General Rules, at the discretion of the OC, as set out in the "Penalties and Disqualification" section. Any other consequences will be taken at the discretion of the OC.
• Any changes to these rules will be informed to the participants prior to the event.

Prizes:

Results will be announced on stage and through mails to all the Participants.

• 1st place: ₹12,000 and direct entry to the Milkyway Finale.
• 2nd place: ₹8,000.

Note: Participants shall refer to the General Rules and the Event Horizon Official Participant Rulebook for further details.