The Ghost Hardware Challenge: Embedding AI into the Unseen

We live in a world saturated with visible screens, buttons, and devices — but true intelligence should not demand attention. It should anticipate, adapt, and act seamlessly in the background. The future of AI is not just smart — it's ambient, unobtrusive, and invisibly embedded.

While current AI hardware focuses on performance and connectivity, the true frontier lies in embodying intelligence into the objects and spaces around us — without altering their form or demanding interaction.

NextPCB, a leader in advanced PCB and flexible electronics manufacturing, calls on innovators to design the next wave of Ambient AI hardware — systems that perceive, reason, and act while remaining unseen.

What We Are Looking For

We invite concepts that integrate AI inference at the edge into minimal-form hardware, using high-density, flexible, or ultra-compact PCB designs to disappear into environments, wearables, or daily objects. Your design should emphasize privacy-preserving sensing, low-power intelligence, and seamless physical integration.

Suggested Project Directions

1. 1. The Context-Aware Ambient Surface

• Concept: Design a thin, multi-sensor PCB array with embedded TinyML capabilities, enabling walls or furniture to sense activity, mood, or environmental states — and trigger automated responses without interfaces.

2. 2. The Unseen Personal Assistant

• Concept: Develop a wearable or object-embedded AI module that learns user behavior through non-visual sensors (e.g., mmWave, audio spatial mapping) and delivers proactive feedback via discreet haptics or sound.

3. 3. The Self-Organizing Workspace

• Concept: Create a network of AI-enhanced nodes embedded in office furniture that collectively optimize lighting, climate, and layout in real time based on occupant presence and preferences — with zero visible tech.

How to Enter and Win

Submit your project proposal via the NextPCB Accelerator Portal.

• Prize: 10 winners will each receive $500 USD in PCB/PCBA credit from NextPCB, plus consultation on manufacturing for invisible design.
• Design Review: Our team will review your project's originality, feasibility, and technical details and respond to you within three working days.
• Receive Free Prototypes: Upon approval, proceed to submit your order and receive your two free PCBA units.
• Showcase Your Project: Outstanding projects will receive a $50 Amazon gift card. To qualify, simply share your finished project on social media and gather 100 likes. Every 100 extra likes earns an additional $50.

Deadline: March 10, 2026

Why Join?

This challenge is about moving AI from the cloud to the canvas of everyday life — silently, sensitively, and sustainably. Your idea could define how humans coexist with intelligence that feels less like technology and more like intuition.

Ready to build AI that blends in? Design the unseen. Enter the Invisible Interface Challenge.

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