Contest Entry period　Friday, April 1, 2016 - Wednesday, August 10, 2016　 Deadline for the Submission of Contest Work　Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Contest Entry period

Friday, April 1, 2016 - Wednesday, August 10, 2016　

Deadline for the Submission of Contest Work

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Award winners are announced here.

The work submission deadline of this contest has passed.
We would like to thank many submissions to the contest.
The result announcement and awards ceremony is scheduled on November 7 (Monday), 2016.
Awards ceremony will be held and the selection result will be announced on November 7 (Monday), 2016.
Video of the seminars

INFORMATION

Overview

Organizer: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
Cosponsor: YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory
Special Cooperation: Institute of Infrastructure Application of Ubiquitous Computing, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, Graduate School, the University of Tokyo
Cooperation: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF EMERGING SCIENCE AND INNOVATION / DWANGO Co., Ltd.

Contest submissions are called for as follows.

New applications based on the IoT concept that link RICOH THETA with sensors, data available on the websites via networks

Gadgets and applications that work with RICOH THETA

Schedule

Contest Entry period: Friday, April 1, 2016 - Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Deadline for the Submission of Contest Work: Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Awards ceremony: Monday, November 7, 2016

Eligibility

  • The applications and gadgets make full use of RICOH THETA. There is no restriction on the used versions of THETA models.
  • Applications need to be made available for free until the Awards ceremony to be held on Monday, November 7, 2016.
  • Gadgets need to be submitted to the secretariat by the deadline below.
  • Regarding iOS app, ones that will have been applied to Apple Inc., for the introduction by Wednesday, August 31 are accepted (assuming that it will be released later). Apps that are modified AFTER the deadline are disqualified from the contest.
  • Applicants must agree to the Application Rules for the application.

Application procedures

Use the entry form and application form on the RICOH THETA x IoT Developers Contest website（http://contest.theta360.com) to register yourself as contestant and send applications. Entries made later than Wednesday, August 10 will not be eligible for sending gadgets or applications later.

STEP1. Entry

Contest entry shall be performed as follows.

  1. The applicant must fill in the entry form at the RICOH THETA x IoT Developers Contest website to register an entry as a contestant.
  2. An e-mail is sent to the registered e-mail address for confirmation. Accessing a URL in the sent e-mail finishes the e-mail address confirmation.
  3. The contest secretariat will check the content of the filled form and send a confirmation of the completion of the registration if there is no problem. Registration may take up to TWO (2) business days.

Contestant entry allows one to use the following.

  • Cloud API (Beta version) (*)
    The API of the cloud that works with RICOH THETA
  • 3D model data of enclosures of RICOH THETA series including the latest RICOH THETA S

STEP2. Submission

Send the contest submission via the application form at the RICOH THETA x IoT Developers Contest website. Send the set of the following documents and material by the work submission deadline.

Documents to be submitted

  • Explanation of an application or a gadget (up to 500 words）
  • Photo (snapshot) (up to five pictures）
  • Explanation movie (maximum play time: two minutes)
  • Application manual (How to operate applications and the explanation of the expected behavior)
  • In the case of Application submission, URL where applications are published if any (Google Play, App Store, Windows Store and other websites chosen by applicants)
  • Types of used API
  • Gadget (if a gadget is applied)

Send your gadget to the Contest secretariat. If an application does not exist (yet), please mention this at the time of entry submission. Gadget submission from Japan must be received by Wednesday, August 31, 2016. Gadget submission from abroad must be received by Wednesday, September 7, 2016.

(*) Regarding RICOH cloud API (beta version), please see the following URLfor its overview and specification: http://docs.ricohapi.com/

Cloud API allows the access to BaaS (Backend as a Service) (*1) for imaging devices. This helps developers to create solutions that use imaging devices including THETA efficiently and cost-effectively. The use of API to be made available to the public requires registration.
A special credential is sent to contestant who would like to use API in addition to the entry confirmation.

(*1) BaaS (Backend as a Service) is a type of cloud computing that provides app developers with shared functions such as authentication and management of users and devices, push notifications, and SNS linking through the Internet. App developers can incorporate these functions easily through the use of cloud API (Application Programming Interface) and SDK (Software Development Kit).

Available

  • Photo and media storage
  • Video communication
  • Remote control
  • Image processing

Platform requirements

Applications (and gadgets if they come with an application) must operate on one of the following software platforms.
If there is a specified OS version on which the application runs, the application needs to run on the specified OS version and the newer ones as well. E.g.: Applications which operate on iOS 9 or later version are accepted. Applications which operate on iOS 7.1, but not on iOS 8, are not accepted.

Types Requirements
Mobile OS Android 4.2 or later version
iOS 8 or later version
Windows Store application
Apple App Store application
Web application Operate with at least one of the following major browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, etc. Check the operation of the latest version at the time of application, and submit the name and the version of the browser with which the operation was verified.
Other OS The platform hardware needs to be something that is standard in the industry and easy to obtain such as PC, Apple Mac, and Raspberry Pi.
Windows 8 or later version
Mac OSX 10.10 or later version
Linux (clearly state the distribution used)

Judging criteria

Being innovative and fits with the age of the IoT

Submissions will be judged comprehensively in light of the following points.

  • Creativity (originality)
  • Future outlook (potential, extensibility)
  • Ease of use and practical value

Judging procedures

Judging meeting will be held by the judges.

Judges

Ken Sakamura
Professor of Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, Graduate School, the University of Tokyo (Chief Judge)

Atsushi Ozawa
Principal Investigator (Science Communication), National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), Japan

Ryotaro Muramatsu
CEO/Director, NAKED Inc.

Toshihiro Shimizu
Manager of Engineering and Communication Office, DWANGO Co., Ltd.

Shiro Kondo
Chairman of Ricoh

Prizes

First prize: ONE million JP YEN for one entry

Second Prize: 500, 000 JP YEN for three entries

The 80th Anniversary special prizes: 300,000 JP YEN for five entries

Honorable mention: 100,000 JP YEN (for as many entries as the judges see fit)

Number of prizes: Nine plus the number of Honorable mentions, and the total prize amount will be five million JP YEN.

Result announcement/Awards ceremony

Awards ceremony will be held and the selection result will be announced on Monday, November 7, 2016 at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Tokyo, Japan). The details will be notified to the contact person of each applicant as soon as winners are selected.

Application Rules

  • Applicants shall agree that the contest will be held to contribute to proposing new use of RICOH THETA and to promoting RICOH THETA.
  • Entries must be original and unpublished. (Works must have not been applied to other contests and under application, and must have not won any prize of other contests in the past.) Entries are prohibited to be applied to other contests until the result of this contest is announced.
  • Entries must be designed and developed by the applicants. Applicants need to own the copyright and other rights to the entries.
  • Applicants shall guarantee the organizer and cosponsor of the contest that the rights of respective works have been processed in advance for avoiding copyright violations if works copyrighted by a third party, such as image, video, icon, logo, other data are used by being mashed up with the contest entries, or if an open source library is used for developing submissions.
  • Any number of entries can be applied by any party (individuals, groups and corporations). There is no restriction on nationality, age, resident area, etc.
  • Minor applicants shall obtain the permission of guardian.
  • Expenses for establishing the development environment and execution environment of entries, for obtaining RICOH THETA and its ancillary expenses, and for applying to the contest such as network provider subscription fees and communication expenses shall all be borne by applicants.
  • In principle, prize winners shall attend the awards ceremony to be held at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Tokyo, JAPAN) and give a presentation on their entries. Basically, prize winners in Japan are responsible for the expenses related to the trip to the awards ceremony. Part of travel expenses to the awards ceremony will be subsidized for the winners from abroad.
  • The cash prize will be paid to the prize winner’s designated account if the winner is an individual, to the contact person’s designated account if the winner is a group, and to the corporation’s designated account if the winner is a corporation.
  • Applicants shall agree that failure to adhere to the deadline will result in disqualification.
  • If the entries are iOS applications, the date the applications are registered to App Store for judging will be the date entries are applied to the contest. The contestants shall adhere to the Special Notes in the Application Procedures.
  • Entries developed for the contest are prohibited to be applied to other contests until the result of the contest is announced.
  • Entries applied to the contest shall not be authorized, released, distributed, etc. as the official applications, services, and gadgets of any of the following: Ricoh Company, Ltd., cosponsor(s), and cooperating organization(s).
  • Applications from organized crime, i.e., organizations that encourage their members to engage collectively or habitually in violent, unlawful act, etc.), members of organized crime, quasi-members of organized crime: i.e., parties who maintain relationships with, cooperate with, or engage in the maintenance or operation of organized crime by providing funds, weapons, etc., to organized crime or members of organized crime, but who are not themselves members, organized crime-related companies: i.e., companies run by members of organized crime, quasi-members, or former members of organized crime, that maintain relationship with, cooperate with, or engage in the maintenance or operation of organized crime by providing funds to organized crime or by other means, or those companies that actively use organized crime in doing business, etc., and cooperate in the maintenance or operation of organized crime, or their equivalents (hereinafter collectively referred to as ”anti-social organizations”), or those who are deemed by the organizer, to have contact with and be involved with anti-social organizations in one way or another by cooperating with or being involved with the maintenance, operation and management of anti-social organizations, etc. through funding, etc. shall not be accepted.
  • The use of cloud API which Ricoh Company Ltd. has prepared for the contest shall be only done by those who register an entry at the Contest as contestants.
    The API is a beta version provided AS IS, and does not guarantee correct operation. There will be no technical support for API, SDK and sample code prepared for the contest.
  • The enclosure 3D model data and/or cloud API and all other APIs provided for this contest by Ricoh Company, Ltd. are subject to suspension of their provision and specification changes without prior notice to contestants for the reasons of the organizer or cosponsor.
  • In cases cited below, applicants cannot apply for the contest. If works which fall under the following cases are submitted, the organizer may exclude the entries from the judgment, and cancel or disqualify the entries without obtaining the consent from the applicants. Besides, the prize winning right may be taken back and, the applicants may need to return the prize money.
    • Cases in which applicants do not satisfy the eligibility requirements
    • Cases in which submissions have deficiency
    • Cases in which applicants do not reply within seven days after they receive a notice on the deficiency of their submissions from the organizer
    • Cases in which entries violate public order
    • Cases in which applicants or submissions breach or are threaten to breach the laws and ordinances, etc.
    • Cases in which submissions violate or are threaten to violate the intellectual property rights such as copyright and trademark, right to honor and dignity, right to privacy, portrait right and other rights of the organizer, cosponsor or a third party
    • Cases in which applicants make a false entry, and submit false statements on their applications
    • Cases in which applicants obstruct the smooth implementation of the contest in the judging process
    • Cases in which applicants and entries are considered to defeat the purpose of the contest by the organizer
  • In cases cited above, Ricoh Company, Ltd. may terminate the provision of API, etc. to the applicants who developed the entries.
  • When a problems occurs related to entries’ or applicants’ infringement of intellectual property right, right to honor and dignity, right to privacy, portrait right and other rights by any chance, the applicants shall solve the problems on their own at their own expense. If the organizer and cosponsor or a third party suffers damage for any cause attributable to applicants, the applicants shall be responsible for indemnification and payment of the damages.
  • The intellectual property rights of the entries, etc. are held by the applicants. However, the applicants shall grant the organizer and cosponsor a perpetual right to use (including announcing, reproducing, showing, publicly transmitting, distributing, etc.) entries and their names, the applicants’ names, etc. for publication, advertisement and announcement irrespective of tools and methods such as paper, broadcast and electronic media, etc. in Japan and overseas.
  • Applicants may publicize their application to the contest on their own website, SNS, etc. However, applicants shall not pretend that their entries were developed, authorized and recommended by Ricoh Company, Ltd., etc.
  • If the secretariat cannot contact the prize winners and cannot inform them of the recipient of prize winning, the prize winning rights may be overridden.
  • Information such as the names (real names) and contact information such as e-mail address and telephone number provided by the applicants for the application will be used only for informing the applicants of the prize winning, announcing prize winning entries, and communicating about the entries
  • Organizer and cosponsor may use the names of entries, their names (real names or the pseudonyms the applicants have specified at the time of the contest entry), in paper, electronic and other publication medium for public relations, advertisement and announcement in Japan and overseas.
  • Inquiries on the judging process, etc. will not be accepted.
  • Parties related to the organizers and cosponsor or those concerned in the implementation of the contest are not eligible for the contest.
  • The contest may be subject to suspension or termination for certain reasons without prior notice. If the contest is suspended or terminated, the organizer and cosponsor of the contest shall not be responsible for the expenses paid by the applicants for the application of the contest before they are notified of the suspension or termination of the contest.
  • Applicants shall agree to the Application Rules before developing their submissions.
  • The Application Rules and Application Guidelines may be subject to change without prior notice if the organizer decides that they need to be changed.
  • Applicants shall agree that their submissions will not be returned to them.

Privacy Policy


For general inquires, contact the secretariat

Attn: Secretariat for RICOH THETA x IoT Developers Contest
YRP Ubiquitous Networking Laboratory
Daiichi Seijitsu Bldg. 9F, 2-12-3, Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 141-0031 Japan
E-mail: support@contest.theta360.com

Past contest

2015

RICOH THETA Developers Contest