IIT Kharagpur Hackathon: Programmers Develop Industry Scale Hardware Solutions

The Hardware Edition of Smart India Hackathon 2019 is being hosted by IIT Kharagpur. Young programmers from different parts of the state designed and developed hardware prototypes, which could be employed to address various industrial challenges during the Hardware Edition of Smart India Hackathon 2019 at IIT Kharagpur.

As per the reports, 93 participants from the seven state designed sensor-enabled models. These sensor-enabled models could track assets, and save lives during a crisis. Five winners were awarded Rs. 1 Lakh each from the Union Ministry of Coal for their prototypes.

IIT Kharagpur, Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Mentor Hardware Edition of Smart India Hackathon 2019 addressed the event as the new education methodology. According to him, engineering education is going through a huge transformation. Hackathon is one such transformation and it enables multiple aspects.

About Smart India Hackathon 2019

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar announced the launch on the third edition of Smart India Hackathon 2019 on August 29, 2018. The Smart India Hackathon or SIH is the largest Nation-Building Digital Initiative in the world that was launched by the HRD ministry.

The aim of the initiative is to harness innovation and energy of bright and creative students in order to drive growth and development for India. Javadekar added that the solutions presented by the students may prove to be helpful in overcoming various challenges faced by ministries and other government departments. SIH 2019 will have both software and hardware edition.

According to the Minister, this year, the government is expecting around 1,50,000 students from over 3,000 institutes to register for it. Those students, who want to be part of the initiative, can register for SIH 2019 from October.’’

Also Read: New IIT Guwahati Director Envisions Extension Plans for The Institution

Javadekar also informed that more than 17400 teams participated in SIH 2018. This number comprised one lakh students from Engineering, MCA and Management backgrounds. Out of these 1296 entries have been shortlisted for the finals and 8000 solutions will give their ideas and solutions for the 340 software problems. Prize money will be awarded to the winners of the Hackathon.

Other than this, HRD ministry is also in talks with DST to rope in funding for the teams whose solutions will be selected. The ministry will also ensure that these teams are assisted by Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) as startups.

Also Read:Artificial Intelligence (AI) Courses in IITs Giving Tough Competition to Computer Science

Some of the potential projects of SIH 2018 include special Pen Drive for ISRO to Prevent Data Theft, Airport Mass Management System for Air India, Gaming Solution for Ministry of AYUSH to Launch Health Benefits and a Platform for North-East Artefacts.