Peloton has shared some details from their 2026 internal Hackathon event, where the first-place project was an arcade experience built for the Peloton Bike.
Called “Peloton Arcade,” the project was created by Ian Andersen, a Senior Manager of Engineering at Peloton. Andersen described the idea as:
“I wanted to see if I could build a full arcade experience on the bike, utilizing cadence, resistance, and a custom controller I made myself. Hackathon’s the one week you actually get to take something like that from an idea to working hardware people can play.”
Peloton says hardware-focused projects took the top results this year, with AI also playing a major role both in what employees built and in the tools they used to create those projects.
Artificial intelligence was also the dominant theme at Peloton’s 2025 Hackathon, although this year’s recap puts more emphasis on physical hardware prototypes using AI to expand what the software behind them could do.
This was Peloton’s ninth Hackathon since the company was founded and the fifth consecutive year using its week-long format.
Participation also increased again this year:
- 57 completed projects, compared to 49 in 2025 and 55 in 2024
- More than 250 participants, compared to 220 in 2025 and 198 in 2024
- Teams from Product, Legal, Strategy, and other groups
- Participation from Taiwan, Poland, Woodinville, Sunnyvale, New York City, and remote employees around the world
Teams got three and a half days during Hack Week to turn an idea into a working prototype. The event began across Peloton’s global offices, starting in Taiwan, followed by Poland and New York, with the New York kickoff streamed and recorded for employees elsewhere.
Peloton also changed how judging worked this year. All projects were judged at an expo (both with live pitches at booths and video submissions from remote teams). In 2024, the top five projects advanced to a separate “Shark Tank”-style final round where teams pitched directly to Peloton leadership. This year, Peloton says employees throughout the company also voted live for their own favorite project during the expo.
Over the years, several products that began as Hackathon projects eventually made their way into member-facing products and features that launched. The company says Auto-Resistance, third-party treadmill metrics, target metrics during rides, QR Code Login, and the Peloton Android widget all started at previous Hackathons. The Peloton Guide also began as a Hackathon project – and several of the features of the Guide like rep counting, movement tracking, and form feedback also helped shape Peloton IQ.
Peloton has experimented with Bike-based gaming before. The 2024 Hackathon included several cycling-game concepts, including a virtual cycling game and a Mario-style side-scrolling project.
Peloton was also separately beta testing what they called the “Cycling Experience”, an immersive, gaming-inspired cycling mode that appeared closer to a Zwift-style training platform. However, Peloton later decided to no longer move forward with their Zwift competitor.
Peloton did not publish the complete list of all 57 Hackathon projects or detail the other winning concepts, though the company said the results ranged from playful hardware experiences to features that reimagined how members interact with the app.
As always with Peloton’s Hackathon, a working prototype does not necessarily mean a feature or product will eventually launch. The event is designed to give employees room to experiment outside their normal roles and quickly test ideas.
You can read Peloton’s full 2026 Hackathon recap on their careers site.
Would you be interested in seeing any of these features make it to your Peloton devices or app?
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