{"slug":"furme","name":"FurMe","hackathon":"uofthacks-11","tagline":"A Furby-shaped desk assistant that follows your face, reads your mood and talks back.","placement":{"status":"grand-winner","awards":["Overall UofTHacks First Place Winner"],"track":null},"team":{"size":3,"members":["James Yang","Judy Z","Trinity Ung"]},"problem":"The event theme was nostalgia; the team wanted the companionship of a childhood toy to become useful today.","solution":"A physical Furby-like body that turns toward the user, detects emotion from the face to play mood-matched childhood songs, converses and tells jokes, with a web dashboard chatbot and a home-security camera view.","demo_moment":"A Furby turns to look at you, notices you look down, and plays a song from your childhood.","build_style":"hardware-software","tech":{"stack":["python","javascript","html","css","arduino","servos","camera","cohere","openai","spotify-api","google-text-to-speech","agora-rtc"],"ai_patterns":["llm-api","computer-vision","voice-ai"]},"domains":["productivity","robotics-hardware","social-connection"],"analysis":{"why_it_stood_out":[{"claim":"Answered the nostalgia theme with the most recognizable toy of the judges' childhood rather than a literal 'retro' app.","basis":"curator-inference"},{"claim":"A living physical object on the table; most theme entries were web apps.","basis":"curator-inference"},{"claim":"Feature list is broad (chatbot, security, music, jokes) — a kitchen-sink risk the physical character carried.","basis":"curator-inference"}],"mechanisms":["theme-native-twist","cultural-reference-hook","physical-artifact","demo-first-wow","one-sentence-clarity","sponsor-platform-mastery"],"judging_lens":["wow-factor","originality"],"lessons":["For a themed event, the winning move is the theme's most emotionally loaded object, made functional."],"confidence":"medium"},"links":{"devpost":"https://devpost.com/software/furme","repo":null,"demo":null,"video":null},"sources":[{"url":"https://devpost.com/software/furme","kind":"devpost-project","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14"},{"url":"https://uofthacks-11.devpost.com/project-gallery","kind":"devpost-gallery","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14"}]}