International Student Team Wins Vidzeme UAS VR/AR Hackathon 2026
This year's hackathon focused on healthcare challenges and the potential of virtual and augmented reality technologies to address them. The hackathon brought together 15 teams and more than 60 participants, including international BIP students from 12 countries – Iran, Belarus, France, Lithuania, Portugal, Albania, Türkiye, Poland, India, Jordan, Romania, and Rwanda – alongside participants from Latvia.
The winning solution was developed by the international student team "Wheel Care – Wheelchair Training in XR", addressing a challenge jointly proposed by UniHaus and Vidzeme Hospital. The team consisted of Yassin Derkhoui, Theodore Condette, Joseph Gervais, Leopold Latona, and Amir Mahan Ziaee. “Learning how to operate a wheelchair is not easy, especially after a stroke. There is often a lack of physical space where people can practice, so our goal was to make this process more accessible and effective. Maneuvering a wheelchair is a significant challenge, and many people do not realize how much hand coordination it requires,” explained the team.
“The team chose the most technically challenging task, which also meant getting the least amount of sleep. Developing a virtual training environment and connecting it to motors that simulate different surfaces required an intensive effort. The team managed to stay motivated throughout the process, resulting in a solution that could realistically be implemented in practice,” said hackathon mentor and digital health expert Linda Lancere. “The challenge was to address the needs of post-stroke patients by creating a solution that would enable assistants, family members, or other caregivers to help patients improve their wheelchair skills. The team quickly understood the concept and successfully brought it to life,” said Oskars Valainis, representative of UniHaus and challenge provider.
Turning ideas into prototypes
Second place was awarded to Team Blue Light, which tackled a challenge proposed by Centrālā Laboratorija and Vidzeme Hospital. Team members Oskars Sniegs, Jānis Raibarts, Liāna Ozoliņa, and Rolands Čipa developed an XR-based training and assessment solution for physicians, nurses, and students, designed to improve vein identification and needle insertion skills. “I've been participating in and mentoring hackathons for over 10 years, and hands down this was one of the coolest events I've been part of. Bringing together MedTech, hardware, XR, and AI, international participants created an incredible environment for innovation. What impressed me most wasn't just the ideas – it was how quickly teams could turn them into working prototypes. Students with little to no prior VR development experience built surprisingly polished and tangible projects in just a couple of days,” said Sercan Altundaş, developer at Neocortex and Ready Player Me.
Third place went to Team Sunflower and Evita Ķiesnere for their project "Empathy Simulator for Me." “We are particularly proud that the Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences International AR/VR Hackathon has become one of the longest-running collaborative events in Latvia’s AR/VR sector. This year’s results demonstrate that the field is full of talented future and current professionals whose solutions have genuine potential in healthcare. Therefore, Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences will support the further development of the winning solution on its path toward market readiness,” said Edmunds Jansons, hackathon organizer and Director of the Master’s Programme Virtual Reality and Smart Technologies at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences.
All participating teams received prizes from the event’s main sponsor, Magebit. The hackathon was supported by Tālava, Overly, HackTribe, Neocortex, the Latvian Technology Center, Vidzeme Rehabilitation Centre, Centrālā Laboratorija, and the Children’s Clinical University Hospital.
Blended Intensive Programme
The Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) is an international intensive study programme that combines online and in-person learning activities. This year, the programme was integrated with the VR/AR Hackathon at Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences. It focuses on the development of Extended Reality (XR) solutions for healthcare technology and rehabilitation, integrating artificial intelligence, sensor technologies, and data analytics.
The programme aligns with the European Commission’s Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds Strategy, promoting a safe, inclusive, and trustworthy digital environment. The event is organized within the framework and support of the LEAPxr project and is supported by funding from the European Union’s Erasmus+ Programme (BIP ID: 2025-1-LV01-KA131-HED-000332159-3).
Links
➞ UNESCO: Reimagining Our Futures Together: A new social contract for education
Article created by: Vidzeme UAS