Denver, CO—Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation is hosting a second annual developers contest for its Ricoh Theta camera. The contest solicits applications as well as gadgets that utilize the Theta. The Ricoh Theta is capable of taking 360º, fully spherical images and videos.
Registration is now open through August 10, 2016. Those registered have until August 31 to submit their final apps and gadgets. Furthermore, applicants will get early access to the new platform. The platform is optimized for cloud-based applications leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT).
“In this age of IoT, where many objects are connected to the cloud, the value of making data and an API ‘open’ has been increasing steadily. Open environments also help drive innovation,” said Dr. Ken Sakamura, chair judge of the contest and Professor of Interfaculty of Initiatives in Information Studies at the University of Tokyo.
“Globally, there is a trend to adopt open APIs to enable the control of products from outside a company. However, this trend is still small in the Japanese market. Through this contest, early bird access to the cloud-based API for Ricoh Theta will be available to the contestants. So I look forward to seeing the contest receive submissions that mash up the camera with new apps, new gadgets and novel IoT ideas.”
80th Anniversary Celebration
Held as part of Ricoh’s 80th anniversary celebration, this year’s contest challenges developers to create innovative apps and also gadgets that work in conjunction with Ricoh Theta. This would include those that allow the use of the Theta in a cloud-based environment as enabled by the new IoT platform. Winners of the contest will receive a trip to Tokyo, Japan, for the awards ceremony. They will also garner a substantial cash prize.
The Theta’s ability to capture imagery from all directions with a single capture means that it is suited to provide content to applications that benefit from the emerging IoT age, in which virtually all devices are connected. The new IoT platform makes it possible for developers to efficiently and cost-effectively build cloud-based apps.
Applicants get first access to the beta version of this platform and also a cloud API. That will be released as a BaaS (Backend as a Service) for Ricoh Theta.
Interested parties can register for the Ricoh Theta × IoT Developers contest at contest.theta360.com/index-en.html.
