Mysore/Mysuru: More than 31,000 students registered from more than 475 engineering institutes across the country in TECHgium, a popular academia-industry engineering innovation hackathon hosted by L&T Technology Services (LTTS). The sixth edition of the annual technology competition concluded at the Mysuru campus of the LTTS recently.

TECHgium is India’s largest innovation platform for engineering students with a prize money of Rs. 20 lakh with the top winner taking away Rs. 10 lakh.

In the sixth edition this year, the team from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology, Pune, was declared the winner for creating an alginate-based bioplastic for food packaging application. The first runner-up was the team from Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, for developing a plug-in kit for ready charging.

The team from IIT Guwahati was adjudged the second runner-up for their solution on an electromechanical charging device. There was also a special jury awarded to Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, for engineering an autonomous warehouse robot.

The two-day event focused on the themes of sustainability, unmanned aerial vehicles, medical diagnostics, compute vision, analytics, electric vehicles and related infrastructure and wireless transmission. It aims at encouraging aspiring engineers to gain exposure to real-world problem statements and showcase their innovative ideas and solutions to address industry challenge statements.

 Participants went through a rigorous process that lasted nine months during which students were mentored by technical and subject matter experts from LTTS. After multiple rounds of evaluation and ideation, leading to the evolution of proofs-of-concept (PoCs), the final 25 engineering teams were shortlisted.

The finalists exhibited and presented their working prototypes to a jury comprising industry veterans, academicians and analysts. The finalists presented PoCs on a wide range of cutting-edge technologies, including bio-composite material using alginate, autonomous warehouse robots, plug-in-kit for ready charging, X Ray-based artefact detection and removal and early detection of muscle cramps using electromyography, among others.

Abhishek Sinha, Chief Operating Officer and Board Member of LTTS said, TECHgium provides an opportunity for aspiring young engineers to exchange ideas and collaborate. “This year, the event is all the more special since it was held at our Mysuru campus, one of LTTS’ oldest campuses and a hub for engineering innovation. It is encouraging to see the level of enthusiasm and creativity displayed by young engineering minds with their innovative and out-of-the-box thinking.”