HackPrinceton!

We love that hardware hacks have been creeping into the top projects at college hackathons this year. With parts on hand (plus on-demand via Radio Shack runs), complimentary Leap Motion dev kits and support from terrific mentors (ahem Matt from Electric Imp), Princeton was no exception.

Matt helping everyone who used the Imp (pretty much all the hardware projects)

The SmartCar team built an iOS sensor for cars, inspired by the 12-hour drive from Purdue to Princeton.

Orkestra for the Internet of Things: One App To Rule Them All

Here are videos of of some of the other projects:

BARduino made me an ice tea (not Long Island)

Endless entertainment for your pet (and you) with MeowMeow

HexBot: Two more legs and it could have been OctoBot

Mister Alarm: Wake up to music, gentle water misting, and a not-so-gentle car horn

The winner of the hardware track was AirBike, a smart lock for your bike with aspirations of enabling social bike sharing systems. Read more about it here and check it out in action below:

THANKS Adam Yabroudi on the organizing team at Princeton who worked hard to make sure everyone found the parts they needed and made Octopart's participation worthwhile. We're going to be at HackNY next weekend and HackIllinois the following weekend so come say hi if you'll be there.