Indian Institute of Technology Madras’ (IIT Madras) student body, the Centre for Innovation (CFI) showcased more than 70 tech projects during their annual Open House held at the campus today (12th March 2023).

The CFI Open House 2023 featured innovative projects spanning a diverse field, ranging from 3D Printing, astronomy and AI/ML to Drones, Autonomous Vehicles, Hyperloop and Techno-entertainment.

The CFI Open House is a unique opportunity for students to share their work with the wider community, including industry professionals, investors, and potential collaborators, besides the alumni.

The body provides students with access to funding as well as state-of-the-art facilities including 3D printers, laser cutters and electronics workstations, among other facilities. So far, over 100 patents and many student-led start-ups have originated from CFI.

Congratulating the students on their innovations, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “For any country to become a technology superpower; entrepreneurship and innovation are extremely important. IIT Madras is committed to this effort through the Centre for Innovation (CFI). What you witnessed during the CFI Open House were several demonstrations by our students on innovative ideas that could translate into a product of great societal importance.”

The new products on display this year include:

Ø  An Electric Powered Formula race car

Ø  A purely Solar-Powered Electric Vehicle

Ø  A Fish-like Biomimetic Robot that mimics a real fish’s movements using Soft Robotics

Ø  An autonomous beach cleaning robot which efficiently removes debris from a beach’s surface preserving its natural beauty.

Ø  A Glove that provides a sensation of force, temperature, and texture for immersive Virtual Reality

Ø  A Drone for afforestation in difficult-to-reach areas

Ø  A 3D printer that directly uses environment-friendly pellets instead of manufactured PLA fibres.

Ø  A community application for the entire student body at IITM.

Ø  And, an AI DJ

With a strong student community that brings solutions from low-cost medical devices to sustainable transportation solutions, CFI encourages students to work on projects that have the potential to make a positive impact on society.

Appreciating the work done by students, Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal, Faculty Advisor, CFI-IIT Madras, said, “The CFI is IIT Madras’ very own ‘maker space’ and a nation-wide pioneering academic body of this type, set up over 15 years ago to foster student innovation and ‘learning by doing’, primarily through funds from IIT Madras Alumni. Today, CFI reaches a vast majority of the undergraduate students of the campus and also a good number of post-graduates. With 15 clubs dedicated to hobby activities, six competition teams and several ‘spinal’ or support teams today, CFI has become the burgeoning fulcrum of innovation activities at IIT Madras, tackling problems ranging from water logging in the city and secure elections to space exploration, electric and mass mobility.”

Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal added, “Open House is the marquee annual event of CFI that showcases the year-long projects undertaken and the resultant models and prototypes. It was held for the first time at the Sudha and Shankar Innovation Hub inaugurated just recently by Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri. Jagdeep Dhankhar, CFI Open House 2023 is a power-packed, exciting and adrenaline-pumping event!”

CFI was founded in 2008 with just three clubs to encourage the innovative output of students in IIT Madras. It was funded by the graduating batch of 1981. It has now expanded to more than 13 technical clubs, 6 competition teams and 3 managerial teams encompassing a wide range of fields such as bioengineering, analytics, aeromodelling, robotics, electronics, 3D printing, computer vision, physics and astronomy, rocketry, social innovation, product design, and techno-entertainment, among others.

The teams and clubs have been successful in setting multiple world records, the latest of which was the organization of the student elections in 2022 utilizing Blockchain technology for the first time, which had its mention in the India Book of Records.