CHENNAI: As many as 60 cutting-edge tech innovations built by nearly 1,000 students across 26 teams were on display during the IIT-Madras's Centre for Innovation (CFI) Open House 2025 held in the campus here on Saturday.
According to IIT-Madras, CFI is one of India's largest student-run innovation labs, which houses 14 clubs spanning diverse technological domains alongside eight competition teams that actively compete in national and international events.
"Conducted annually, CFI Open House features products completely designed and built by students. This event offers a unique platform for the projects to gain visibility and attract further support from the industry and alumni," the institute said in a release.
Open House 2025 witnessed many standout exhibits, including 'SAMVID', an AI-powered humanoid designed to assist visitors at India's first Constitution Museum at OP Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana; 'Supersyringe', a volume-gated syringe that ensures precise anaesthesia dosage; 'Drone Swarm', a coordinated fleet of drones designed for payload lifting and delivery.
"I note with joy and pride that a number of CFI students are also taking entrepreneurship seriously with teams reaching out to the pre-incubator Nirmaan. This year also marked the first time that a former CFI student head (Sarthak Saurav) founded and joined his own startup (Matterize) immediately upon graduation," said IIT-M Director V Kamakoti.
"I congratulate the teams, student executives, the faculty mentors and support staff for putting on such a wonderful show and encourage them to continue and contribute more strongly to mission 'Startup Shatam'," he added.
This year, key projects showcased major advancements in software and AI.
Innovations like ‘Blink’, an audio-based VR game for visually impaired users, and ‘AI Rahaman’, a fusion music generator, pushed the boundaries of immersive technology.
‘Axify’, an image processing tool, and ‘QuanCrypt’, a post-quantum cryptography library, highlighted progress in computational efficiency and cybersecurity. ‘TradeCraft’, an AI-driven predictive trading platform, aims to democratise access to financial markets.
In terms of achievements, Team Raftar, the Formula Student EV race car team, won first place in ‘Overall Statics’ at Formula Bharat 2025, excelling in engineering design, cost and manufacturing, and best battery pack.
Team iGEM earned a Gold Medal at the iGEM competition, demonstrating excellence in synthetic biology.
Team Avishkar is developing Hyperloop technology with a sub-scale passenger cabin and cost-effective concrete tubes, driving sustainable high-speed transportation in India.