AnimalHack 2026

We are back! Following AnimalHack 2025, 2024 and 2023, we are excited to welcome you to this year's edition: AnimalHack 2026. Website: https://animalhack.org/ Discord: https://discord.gg/ZBbTxuxND2 Email: animalhack1@gmail.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animal.hack LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/18105021/ AnimalHack is a student-led, international hackathon for anyone interested in animals, animal welfare, or human-animal relationships. Projects may focus on pets, service and assistance animals, farm animals, wildlife, or the environments in which animals live. AnimalHack invites you to identify animal-related needs and challenges and develop a creative, technology-based solution. AnimalHack is supported by Binnovative, a nonprofit organization in Massachusetts. Event Overview Format: Fully online Entry fee: Free Participation: Individuals and teams. Eligibility: Open to participants of all ages and technical backgrounds. No previous hackathon experience is required. Project period: Participants may work on their projects at any time before the submission deadline. Project submission deadline: 12pm on September 12 (Sat), 2026, EST. Presentation registration deadline: 12pm on September 12 (Sat), 2026, EST. Online project presentations: September 13 (Sun), 2026, EST. Awards: 15+ awards recognize projects across a wide range of categories. Publication opportunity: Selected participants will be invited to publish book chapters about their projects in the Binnovative Innovation Book series. Merchandise: Celebrate your AnimalHack experience with official merch! Purchases help support future AnimalHack events. Expected Project Topics Expected project topics include, but are not limited to: Improving animal welfare and quality of life Supporting pet owners, caregivers, veterinarians, and animal-service professionals Supporting animal behavior, enrichment, training, and human-animal communication Supporting animal shelters, rescues, and foster programs Improving animal adoption, matching, outreach, and post-adoption support Reuniting lost pets with their families and preventing animals from becoming lost Monitoring and improving the environments in which animals live Supporting responsible animal agriculture, husbandry, and aquaculture Advancing humane and sustainable food-system innovation Monitoring, tracking, conserving, and protecting wildlife Promoting safe and humane coexistence between people and wildlife Preventing animal abuse, cruelty, poaching, and wildlife trafficking Improving accessibility and support involving service or assistance animals Educating the public about animals, ecosystems, and responsible animal care. Solutions can take many forms, including apps, games, social platforms, web sites/services, devices, sensors, robots, computer vision, data analysis, predictive models, visualization, data collection and management, educational resources and 3D modeling/printing. Book Publication We plan to publish a book that features selected projects presented at AnimalHack 2026. Award recipients and other selected participants will be invited to extend their project abstracts and publish them as book chapters through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. For your reference, see the books published in the prior editions of AnimalHack: AnimalHack 2023 book, AnimalHack 2024 book, AnimalHack 2025 book. Organizers: Naomi McCreary, Hanna Suzuki (Co-chair), Alyssa Yasuhara (Co-chair), Rimi Yoshikawa.