Chennai, 2nd November 2019: Indian Institute of Technology Madras students from the Centre For Innovation (CFI) showcased some of their cutting-edge innovations and technologies to the public today (2nd November 2019) during CFI Open House 2019.
The CFI Open House is an annual event showcasing the recent work and achievements of student innovators as well as providing an opportunity for their projects to be displayed on a large scale, leading to implementation
From Formula Cars and Drones to next generation technologies such as ‘Hyperloop,’ several competition teams and clubs that have won international acclaim not only displayed their products but also demonstrated them to the public during this annual flagship event of CFI.
CFI has produced teams that have made waves globally. CFI Team Avishkar Hyperloop was the only Team from Asia to be among the top 22 teams, shortlisted from over 1,600 entries worldwide, to quality for the finals of 2019 Hyperloop Pod Competition organized by SpaceX.
CFI Team Raftar Formula Racing was the only Indian Team which qualified for Formula Student Germany 2018.
Highlighting the importance of CFI, Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, said,“Centre For Innovation (CFI) at IIT Madras has become the hub of self-actuated student innovation activities at the Institute. Right from the time freshers join the Institute, those with a desire to build and make are provided the ambience and the mentoring by seniors to get their feet wet.”
Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi added, “Many go on to build fantastic machines, algorithms and devices, and some of these efforts have morphed into startups. IIT Madras Teams participate in and win at many international car, robotics, and other such competitions. The annual CFI Open House gives an opportunity for the community, particularly school children, to see the latest projects undertaken, and derive inspiration from them.”A completely student-run platform, CFI was set up with a vision to encourage engineers to apply knowledge from their academic pursuits to ‘innovate’ and propose solutions to real-world problems. Almost a decade since its inception, CFI is now home to ten clubs and fourcompetition teams with over 600 students involved in activities over the year.
Speaking about the work that goes on at CFI, Prof. Boby George, Faculty Advisor, CFI-IIT Madras, said, “The innovation that emerges from CFI is pure magic. Magic because these fantastic ideas are born only out of passion, of a diverse group of enthusiastic young minds, tocome together for a common goal. The goal to better the world we live in using the amazing power of technology responsibly.”
Since its inception, CFI has augmented the ‘tech’ space in the institute. CFI Projects have gone on to produce high-profile startups and internationally acclaimed competition teams apart frombagging laurels at national and international levels. Driven by passion and fuelled byenthusiasm, CFI aims to kindle the spirit of inquiry and foster the spirit of engineering not just inIIT Madras but also in other institutes via mentorship.Four competition teams have represented IIT Madras and the country in international competitions – Raftar Formula Racing, Anveshak (University Rover Challenge), Abhiyaan (Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition) and Avishkar Hyperloop (SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition).
Highlighting the impact CFI Teams have had, Mr. Akash Anandan, Student Executive Head, CFI, IIT Madras, said, “Multiple innovations from the CFI community have been accepted and lauded by Government Agencies and private industries/businesses for havingtremendous potential to improve lives.”
Further Mr. Akash Anandan added, “To name a few, the project ‘Eye in the Sky’ leverages autonomous drone usage to help relief and post disaster surveillance, helping first responders. Another project in the field of computer Vision ‘Textile Quality Analysis’ involves estimating the quality of fabric/textile using images captured from camera. Autonomous Driving in a Simulated Environment, Text to Braille Converter, Agricopter, Computer Vision for the Traffic Management, Powered Exoskeleton, and I.O.T. for Air Quality Measurement are among other highlights of this year.”
To strengthen the innovation ecosystem within the campus, CFI ensures that a pipeline of potential incubatees is created through a body called ‘ Nirmaan ,’ which seeks out students with ideas that have commercial potential and puts them through a one-year programme to refine the ideas, develop products, and formulate business plans.
Nirmaan is a program structured for students who come up with an idea and wish to create a start-up. It empowers teams with everything they need to convert their idea into an incubated startup, preparing projects to become a company by helping them in the startup process, design and prototype the product. It is a pre-incubator, where ideas mature towards incubation.
