I'm obviously kinda biased as I'm running this on the Hacker Dojo's side, but how else would you run a hardware hackathon? Or are hackathons only for software?

I'm obviously kinda biased as I'm running this on the Hacker Dojo's side, but how else would you run a hardware hackathon? Or are hackathons only for software? Are you in a position to make a company out of your alternative soda fountain, or is the offer to buy an idea really a kindness? They have offered classes, support from their engineering teams, equipment to break, and a lot of other things I've never seen anybody else do before.