Real Industry Sonos Challenges 2019

September 23 & 26, 2019 | In partnership with Sonos | Sonos Headquarters, Boston & University of Michigan

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Today’s university students are the future leaders of industry...By partnering with Sonos and Boston-area universities, we’re able to give students unprecedented access to real-world challenges, technologies, and career opportunities.
— Jay LeBoeuf, founder and Executive Director of Real Industry

On Monday, September 23rd, students coming from universities across the Greater Boston Area came together for a kickoff event in partnership with Real Industry and Sonos to answer this question: How do we design or build an experience that transitions people between spaces?  These students hailed from Tufts University, Northeastern University, Harvard University, Boston University, Boston College, Emerson College, Wellesley College, Berklee College of Music, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Clark University, and more.

Smart speakers are transforming how we enjoy music, access information, and interact with our homes. Industry mentors from Sonos are facilitating a challenge in which university students design smart speaker experiences that transitions people between spaces. Over the course of two weeks, students will use Sonos hardware and software to explore this prompt, build something, and communicate the engineering and business value behind their accomplishments.

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I enjoyed the Real Industry-Sonos events last year in Boston and Seattle. For me, the fact that the students were exposed to a broad cross section of the development process, including ideation, product management, and design, as well as the actual coding, was particularly appealing. I’m excited to see what students do this year with our open developer platform.
— Matt Welch, Product Manager, Sonos

The Sonos Challenge empowers university students to get experience with technology and innovation in an industry they’re passionate about, all while receiving mentorship from professionals in the field. This partnership between Real Industry and Sonos provides students with opportunities they would not have otherwise accessed.

A team of 4 University students won the Boston Sonos Challenge. Ayush Upneja, Parker Van Roy, Michael Papa, and Matthew Poulson created a radial speaker detection control audio based on RSSI signals.

The team received $1,600 in Sonos speakers and a chance to present their submissions to Sonos leaders.

A huge congrats to Ayush, Parker, Michael, and Matthew! Check out the video below.

On Thursday, September 26th, University of Michigan students attended the kickoff event in partnership with Real Industry and Sonos to answer this question: How do we design or build an experience that transitions people between spaces?

A team of 6 students won the University of Michigan Sonos Challenge, In Beom Yoon, Eugene Yoon, Arya Kumar, Alfred Herbst, George Li, and Paul Balko created Flow.

The team received $2000 in Sonos speakers and a chance to present their submissions to Sonos leaders.

A huge congrats to In Beom, Eugene, Arya, Alfred, George, and Paul! Check out the video below.

Stay tuned for upcoming Sonos Challenges!