I Went to Hack the North Alone (My First Big Hackathon)

I got into Hack the North, one of the biggest hackathons in Canada, and went alone. Here's how I applied, how I found a team, and what we built. #HackTheNorth #Hackathon #Engineering This was my first big hackathon (September 18 to 20, 2026, at the University of Waterloo). I'm a first-year mechatronics student at the University of Guelph. In this video: the simple application that got me in, going alone and finding a team on Slack, the Robohub, the recruiters and the food, and the assistive device for blind people we built in one weekend. We didn't win, and I talk about what I'd do differently. What we built: a belt that uses haptic feedback to guide a blind person, the iPhone LiDAR camera to detect objects, and the Gemini API and ElevenLabs so the device can talk to the user. CHAPTERS 0:00 Why I went alone 0:22 Intro 0:51 How I got in 1:28 Getting the news and finding no one to go with 1:48 Finding a team on Slack 3:11 Arriving at Hack the North 4:04 The Robohub 4:56 Recruiters and sponsors 5:19 The food 5:52 What we built 6:33 Challenge 1: the LiDAR camera 7:17 Challenge 2: no wires 8:02 Challenge 3: one motor controller for four motors 8:58 My first time soldering 9:15 The all-nighter 9:47 Judging 10:14 We didn't win 10:42 What I brought home 11:19 Why you should go to a hackathon 12:05 How to find hackathons FIND ME Instagram: @mohammed.al.oda I made a video on how to find hackathons. It's on my Instagram. Nothing in this video is sponsored. The Logitech mouse and other items were given out at the event.