While the XR industry’s major hubs are concentrated on the West Coast of the US, the MIT Reality Hack hackathon has become a focal point for XR developers and entrepreneurs on the East Coast of the US. Now in its eight year, the event has expanded with new opportunities for industry discussion and networking thanks to the concurrently held EXPERIENTIAL Conference. Executive Director Maria Rice offers an overview of this year’s hackathon and winners.
Image courtesy Maria Rice
Guest Article by Maria Rice
Maria is the Executive Director of MIT Reality Hack. For the last eight years, she has been instrumental in positioning the Hack as the world’s leading experiential technology community through the development of programs like the EXPERIENTIAL Innovation Conference, the Reality Scholars diversity fund, and the startup-focused Reality Hack Founders Lab.
From January 23–27, hundreds of top hackers-for-good—along with a roster of tech OGs and startup founders—descended on the MIT campus to attend the eighth annual MIT Reality Hack, the premiere hackathon for experiential technology.
The Hack was sponsored by a range of international players at the intersection of XR, AI, and deeptech. With AI development support from Lambda Labs, participants built functional prototypes using Meta Quest 3, Snap Spectacles, Qualcomm’s RB3g2 robotics kits, ShapesXR, Cognitive 3D, and STYLY.
Image courtesy Sean Chee
One of the most notable characteristics of this year’s MIT Reality Hack was the introduction of new hardware kits, including MEMS-based AR lenses from Maradin, a haptic exoskeleton from Haptikos, and an array of neurosensing gear from OpenBCI, including the Galea biosensing headset.
Image courtesy Sean Chee
With an unapologetic mission of hacking for good, MIT Reality Hack is most memorably distinguished by the dynamic energy generated by its participants and organizers. The five-day event stretched the hacking talents of some 600 participants to the limit, producing 78 innovative use cases and applications in XR and adjacent tech.
Image courtesy Sean Chee
Winning projects included YEIGO, an AR tool for ensuring that mobility aids (like walkers) are used with correct posture; CAREGIVR, an immersive platform for preparing families and caregivers for end-of-life care; and Tac-Man, a haptic input device for sculpting in VR.
EXPERIENTIAL Conference Expands MIT Reality with New Opportunities for Industry Discussion and Networking
Image courtesy Sean Chee
Held alongside the MIT Reality Hack event, global attendees presented at the first-ever EXPERIENTIAL Innovation Conference at MIT; a one-day event envisioned as a ‘Davos of the spatial tech industry’. Cutting-edge research into the most challenging deeptech was demonstrated and debated within the context of learning innovation, vertical applications, and global development.
In part to support the ‘hack-to-market’ initiative of the Founders Lab (one of Reality Hack’s community subprograms), EXPERIENTIAL featured two exciting company launches:
Limit Labs, founded by the leaders of VR/AR MIT, launched RoomSeed, a groundbreaking genAI tool informed by rigorous research.
Haptics company Haptikos launched with a new hand exoskeleton that brings a sense of touch to XR apps at a dramatically low price point with twice the precision of previous solutions.
EXPERIENTIAL is shaped by the mandate set forth to extend Reality Hack’s inclusive technology focus beyond hacking and into the zeitgeist towards the promotion of creator economies. The program journeyed deep into the realms of both academic research and the business marketplace.
The conference kicked off with a fireside chat between two well known names in the industry: Tim Bajarin, founding analyst and Chairman of Creative Strategies and Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, who expounded over the course of an hour on the state of the XR industry, as moderated by AR pioneer Dan Cui.
Image courtesy Sean Chee
Bajarin also participated as a first-time judge at the Hack and wrote up his thoughts on Forbes, calling his experience “one of the highlights of my career”, after 40+ years in the tech industry.
The EXPERIENTIAL keynote was give by Qualcomm’s Senior VP & GM of XR, Ziad Asghar who explored the growing synergy of AI capabilities in XR devices, and the importance of events like MIT Reality hack in incubating the ideas and talent that drive rapidly evolving industries.
Image courtesy Sean Chee
Later in the conference a panel covering Global Initiatives Towards a Sustainable Future, saw MIT Senior Lecturer Ken Zolot moderate a conversation between keyholders representing the United Nations (UNICC), The World Bank Group, Inclusive AI Lab, and Qualcomm, and futurist & Global VP at HTC, Alvin Wang Graylin.
Panelists shared how they leverage experiential technology and hackathon initiatives to empower creator communities, drive economic growth, and enable new, more inclusive human experiences across industries and regions.
As noted by AWE co-founder and Reality Hack partner Ori Inbar: “XR is going mainstream, but to fully achieve this goal we need more seasoned XR builders and newcomers of all kinds to create diverse spatial experiences that matter to every single person on the planet. That’s how you conquer the mainstream!”
Companies interested in participating in the 2026 MIT Reality Hack and the EXPERIENTIAL Innovation Conference may reach out to the conference by contacting me here.
