Bridgewater, NJ (June 9, 2021) – For the first time ever, the annual Brother Hackathon sponsored by Brother International Corporation and subsidiary Brother Mobile Solutions was open to contestants across the United States to crowdsource innovative software applications that stretched the boundaries of the Brother ecosystem of products and solutions for document management. Held virtually over the course of 20 weeks, culminating in the main competition on June 4-5, more than 50 participants vied for the grand prize of $5,000 for spurring innovation in software application development for Brother printing, scanning, and labeling solutions.
This year’s winner, Jim & Melinda Wyatt, won for their app, BoxItFindIt, which uses object recognition to easily identify what you are storing in the box. The custom app prints a label with QR code and item pictures to Brother label printers, supports scanning of documents on Brother scanners, and integrates with Alexa to recall which boxes your items are in. Brother views its hackathons as valuable testing grounds for solutions to address today’s real-world challenges and has incorporated winning ideas into its enterprise universe of software solutions. Last year’s winning app, DivvyScan, which crowdsources the digitization of common domain books, is currently being onboarded to the Brother software development kit.
2021 Hackathon Main Event Winners
● The Platinum Award went to Jim & Melinda Wyatt for BoxItFindIt.
● The Gold Award app was Fresh Raffles by Joe Mestrovich allowing non-profits and charity organizations to set up their own event raffles with custom logo, dates, times and prizes printing tickets from a Brother RJ and QL label printers.
● Ed Arenberg won the Silver Award with Mine a digital asset ownership application leveraging non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to create asset QR codes for people to view and interact with including recipes, artwork, education and more.
● Sameer Khandekar won the Healthcare Vertical Award for Verifiable Certificate, an application that can connect name and date of birth of an individual’s proof of vaccine without the need of an ID.
● Gina Choi won the Education Vertical Award for Translate Sticker, an application that translates words into the language of your choice to print on a Brother label and labeling items to visualize and learn a new language.
● Rene Alfonso won the Retail Vertical Award for the application, Easy Menu, providing an easy way for mom-and-pop restaurants to manage takeout orders from an app with tickets printing directly to the kitchen for preparation.
Mini-hackathon Winners
● #1 Spark Joy – Jim & Melinda Wyatt for VoiceReceipts
● #2 Call Mom – Ed Arenberg for Orderly
● #3 Lift-Off – Daniel Blackburn for Hello Gentlemen
● #4 Revive Zombie – Ed Arenberg for RoutePrint
● #5 Ask Professor – Frank Hernandez for Knowledge Pets
● #6 Catch Villain – Ed Arenberg for Badged
● #7 Pick Charity – Jim & Melinda Wyatt for ThankYouBuck
● #8 Plus One – Bill Reed for a Solar Panel and Battery Monitor
Contestants were graded by a judging panel of Brother executives, as well as guest judge Marie-Philippe Gill, the voice behind the internationally renowned technology blog Girl Knows Tech. Each hackathon team was tasked with building an application that prints labels, receipts, or full-page outputs (invoices, logs, contracts, etc.) on the Brother QL Label Printer, P-touch label maker, a PocketJet series printer, a Brother RuggedJet series printer/labeler, a TD series printer labeler, or a full-size printer/scanner.
“I was beyond impressed with the level of skill and passion from the Brother Hackathon participants,” said Bob Brady, Senior Product Manager, Brother International Corporation. “Every team put so much thought, creativity, and enthusiasm into each entry, applying their expertise for incredibly innovative results showcasing how Brother products and SDKs can solve for a range of needs.”
Click here for more information about the Brother Hackathon.
You can also become a Brother Partner today. Are you looking to integrate Brother products with your solution? Join the Brother Developer Program and get access to the tools, documentation, and resources you need to build solutions for Brother devices. Click here to learn more.
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About Brother International Corporation
Brother International Corporation has earned its reputation as a premier provider of home office and business products, home appliances for the sewing and crafting enthusiast as well as industrial solutions that revolutionize the way we live and work. Brother International Corporation is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brother Industries Ltd. With worldwide sales exceeding $6 billion, this global manufacturer was started more than 100 years ago. Bridgewater, New Jersey is the corporate headquarters for Brother in the Americas. It has fully integrated sales, marketing services, manufacturing, research and development capabilities located in the U.S. In addition to its headquarters, Brother has facilities in California, Illinois and Tennessee, as well as subsidiaries in Canada, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Peru and Mexico.
About Brother Mobile Solutions
Brother Mobile Solutions Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Brother International Corporation, provides innovative mobile, desktop and industrial printing and labeling solutions to field workforces and mobile enterprises. Brother International Corporation and its subsidiaries employ over 1,100 people in the Americas.
