Smart Security and Surveillance – Design Challenge

Hi folks, I just wanted to let everyone know that we will be announcing the official challengers for this design challenge next week. Have a good weekend, the wait will be over soon!

Mr. Aniket
E14 Community

Sub: Re: Apology for the Identity Crisis

Dear Aniket,

I appreciate your sincere efforts to protect my identity and to retire my "alter ego". I had gone though severe mental trauma in the past when many girls sent friend request to me on Facebook thinking that I am standup comedian "Aravind SA". It was a heart breaking situation to reject all of them.

I would also like to thank you for the laughs and look forward to you tinkering in this challenge like Mr. Stark.

Regards
Arvind S.A.

Mr. Arvindsa

Element14 Community

Date: 16 March 2026

Subject: Apology for the Identity Crisis / Re: Reply to your Explanation

Dear Arvind S.A.,

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Please accept my sincere apologies for the mix-up. I can assure you that it was a genuine clerical error and not an attempt to unmask a secret superhero or force a new civilian identity upon you.

While "Arvind Sharma" sounds like a very capable individual, I recognize that there is only one Arvind S.A., and we certainly want the credit for your contributions going to the right person—not your non-existent twin.

I have updated my records to ensure that your "mysterious alter ego" remains retired. From here on out, all communications will be addressed to your correct name.

Thank you for your patience and for the laugh. I look forward to your continued participation (in your official, non-Bat-suit capacity).

Best regards,

Aniket Kumar Raj

Mr. Aniket Kumar Raj
Element14 Community

Date: 16 March 2026
Subject: Reply to your Explanation dated 9th March 2026

I appreciate your response clarifying the intention of the said post and I thank you for making the participants task easier. But I would like to raise concern that my name has been incorrectly mentioned It is Arvind S.A. not Arvind Sharma.  I would be grateful if this could be corrected in all future communication, so that I may continue participating under my real identity and not as my mysterious alter ego (I am not Batman).

THanks,
Arvind S.A.

Noice.. 

Applied.

thanks JoRatcliffe  this clears a bunch of my questions - much appreciated.

Having just read the T's&C's I also note that judging will include

1.4. Judging Criteria: All of the following, which will have equal weighting:
1.4.1. Challengers
         must post five (5) forum posts regarding their build process plus
         one (1) project blog sharing the final outcome of their project using the Kit. Challengers ...
1.4.2. Originality;
1.4.3. Innovation;
1.4.4. Technical merit;
1.4.5. Meeting the goals and intentions of the Contest as set forth in these Terms;
1.4.6. Completeness and clarity of posts and supporting media describing the evolution ...

️️ so the 5 forum posts and 1 project post are also important ️️

Hopefully I plan to work on this with friendlyantz - he will help drive this forward and has a 3D printer

For those interested, we were looking at things like fingerprinting Drone transmitting frequencies using the MAX32630FTHR but obviously we would need a bunch of RF sensors that are not part of the kit - but the T's&C's are ok with that (yes all done within legal bounds)

Also for the other boards (Seeed XIAO Sense) and more powerful computers (Hailo, Jetson, Ras Pi) this was around an idea of having a mesh of sensors and a central AI with LLM capability to process the input and if I needed more than one MAX32630FTHR I may want to aim for a platform I already have at hand (at the reduced chance of winning)

all good thanks for all the responses

Hey saramic , kmikemoo and arvindsa have both given you great responses but just so you hear from one of the competition organizers:

#1 If your submission is not selected as a sponsored challenger then you can always enter a project as an unsponsored challenger by purchasing the kit and adhering to the same rules. Unsponsored challengers can still win and this has happened in previous competitions.

#2 Yes everyone can take part, either as a sponsored or unsponsored challenger, and everyone can begin planning or start making preparations ahead of the build period and submission deadline on 24th May.

#3 It is not mandatory use the MAX32630FTHR#. However, part of the aim of the challenge is to 'showcase features of the kit in the most imaginative way possible' so if you are not using the full kit or not using it to the fullest of its capabilities then that might make it harder to qualify for a prize. At the same time though, the team and I are understanding that for unsponsored challengers there is a cost to purchasing the entire kit. This is a very supportive community so I know everyone would be really enthusiastic to see what someone created around the theme of the challenge regardless how many official kit parts they did/did not use. 

#4 Yes you can absolutely add sensors, an enclosure, additional devices, whatever you want to do to bring your project to life. The kit is intended to help Challengers get started and provide something to build on.

#5 Yes you could use an alternative board and then use the rest of the official kit. This would mean that to an extent you are not showcasing all the features of the kit but perhaps your project is overall highly original, innovative, and demonstrates lots of technical merit, and as a result is still highly deserving of a prize. So there is a calculation there that you need to make...

Lastly, yes you can enroll as a team. Just let me know in your application who is in the team. Plus, when project updates are being shared maybe just let everyone know who is in the team. I would also just highlight that the number of prizes is the same for every winner, so if a team won a prize then they would need to share  

If you have any more questions, you are very welcome to reply here or you can DM me if you like.

Mr Arvind Sharma

Element 14 community

Date: 9 march 2026

Subject: Explanation of what I sent

Dear Arvind

I am glad to write this letter , I recently recived a letter that you didn't get what I mentioned to say, what I provided is the official datasheet for the microcontroller that you may get

So my main texts are that this is the blueprint you can use to be more creative.

Thanks

Your friend 

Aniket Kumar Raj

Didnt get you.