Kumaraguru
Intra Ideathon'24
Where Ideas Ignite Innovation!
A platform for aspiring innovators to showcase their creativity and problem-solving skills.
About Ideathon
Event Details
- Date: 06.12.2024 - 07.12.2024
- Duration: 48 hours
- Venue: MGate
An Ideathon is an event where individuals come together to collaborate on an idea in an intensive manner over a short period of time, usually 24 to 48 hours. The teams are expected to create design plans to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges across a series of reviews and are evaluated based on how well they respond to the feedback they receive. Participants usually have a specific theme to work on and are encouraged to take a deep dive into the problems they choose to take up.
PROBLEM STATEMENTS
PS-1: Efficient Energy Storage for Renewable Integration
The integration of intermittent renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, into the grid poses challenges due to their fluctuating nature. This variability impacts grid stability and energy availability during peak and non-peak hours. Design and develop an efficient Energy Storage System (ESS) with optimized battery configurations to store excess renewable energy and supply it during demand surges, ensuring grid stabilization and energy continuity.
Ps-2: Mitigating Thermal Runaway in Lithium-Ion Batteries
Thermal runaway in batteries, caused by overheating during charging or discharging, can lead to safety hazards like fires or explosions. Enhance the thermal stability of lithium-ion batteries through advanced thermal management systems and materials to mitigate overheating and prevent catastrophic failures.
PS-3: Real-Time Temperature Sensing for Battery Health Monitoring
Uneven thermal distribution across battery cells can lead to performance degradation and safety risks. Current temperature sensing techniques often lack accuracy at the cell level. Develop a precise and reliable multi-point temperature sensing system for real-time monitoring of individual battery cells, enabling proactive thermal management and improved battery lifespan.
PS-4: Optimizing Drone Batteries for Performance and Safety
Heavier batteries limit flight time and payload, while lightweight designs often sacrifice capacity or safety. The challenge is to develop a battery that maximizes energy storage, ensures thermal stability, and maintains safety without increasing the drone's weight.
PS-5: Smart Energy Storage for EV Charging Stations
The increasing demand for EV charging during peak hours stresses the grid, requiring charging stations to incorporate energy storage systems. Challenges include optimizing storage design, ensuring cost-efficiency, and integrating renewable energy sources while maintaining safety and reliability.
PS-6: Use of technology to reduce road accidents caused by human error
Road accidents caused by human error are a significant global concern, accounting for a large percentage of fatalities and injuries. The problem arises from factors such as distracted driving, speeding, fatigue, and poor decision-making, highlighting the urgent need for technological interventions to enhance road safety and minimize human error.
PS-7: Measures to improve safety for women traveling late at night or using shared mobility services
Women traveling late at night or using shared mobility services often face safety concerns, including harassment and lack of secure transit options. Addressing this issue requires innovative measures to enhance personal safety and ensure safe and reliable transportation experiences.
PS-8: Innovations to improve the efficiency and energy recovery of regenerative braking systems in electric and hybrid vehicles
Regenerative braking systems in electric and hybrid vehicles convert kinetic energy into electrical energy during braking, but their efficiency is often limited by factors such as energy conversion losses, battery storage capacity, and system design. Advanced innovations are required to enhance energy recovery, improve power electronics, and optimize energy storage solutions for better overall system performance.
PS-9: Innovations to extend the battery life of e-scooters and e-bikes while reducing charging times
The battery life of e-scooters and e-bikes is constrained by factors such as energy density, charging efficiency, and thermal management. Innovations in advanced battery chemistries, improved energy management systems, and fast charging technologies are essential to extend battery lifespan, enhance performance, and significantly reduce charging times.
PS-10: Improvement of the recycling processes for electric vehicle (EV) batteries to address environmental concerns
Recycling processes for electric vehicle (EV) batteries face challenges such as inefficiencies in material recovery, high costs, and environmental hazards. Advanced methods in battery disassembly, chemical recovery, and reuse of critical materials like lithium, cobalt, and nickel are crucial to making EV battery recycling more sustainable and environmentally friendly.
PS-11: Design improvements to minimize vibrations transmitted to the cabin/chassis
Minimizing vibrations transmitted to the cabin or chassis requires advanced design improvements in vehicle suspension systems, damping materials, and vibration isolation techniques. Innovations in active vibration control, optimized structural designs, and enhanced material properties are essential to improve passenger comfort and vehicle durability.
PS-12: Development of chassis and body systems using lightweight materials without compromising strength or safety
Developing chassis and body systems with lightweight materials presents challenges in balancing weight reduction with strength and safety. Innovations in advanced composites, high-strength alloys, and hybrid materials are essential to achieve lighter structures while maintaining crashworthiness and structural integrity.
PS-13: Advancing Medical Textiles for Infection Control
The rise of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance highlight the need for innovative solutions in healthcare environments. Medical textiles, such as gowns, bed linens, and surgical drapes, play a critical role in reducing cross-contamination. However, current materials face challenges in combining durability, comfort, and effective pathogen resistance.
PS-14: Detection of Adulterants in Milk
Milk is one of the most consumed food products, but it is also frequently adulterated with substances such as water, starch, detergent, and synthetic milk powder. These adulterants can pose serious health risks, including gastrointestinal and chronic diseases. The objective is to develop simple, cost-effective, and rapid tests to identify common adulterants in milk. Techniques such as using iodine for starch detection or methylene blue for microbial contamination can be optimized. Traditional methods can be compared with modern approaches, like using biosensors, for better accuracy and reliability.
PS-15: Creating a Bio-Inspired Solution for Plastic Pollution
Microplastics are infiltrating ecosystems, posing significant risks to marine life and human health. Current solutions for plastic removal are costly or ineffective. Design a bio-inspired system (e.g., using natural enzymes like PETase, algae, or microbial consortia) to degrade microplastics in water bodies. Simulate or sketch a practical model for implementation, highlighting the biological principles and scalability of the solution.
PS-16: Finding Non-Invasive Biomarkers for Disease Diagnosis
Design a non-invasive diagnostic solution that detects early-stage biomarkers of specific diseases, such as diabetes or Parkinson’s, using easily accessible samples like saliva, sweat, urine, or breath. Utilize simple laboratory techniques, such as colorimetric assays or ELISA kits, to identify these biomarkers. Implement computer-based tools to analyze the results and assess the accuracy and reliability of your detection method.
PS-17: Investigating the Efficacy of Combinatorial Therapies in IBD Treatment
Single-molecule therapies have shown limited success in achieving long-term remission in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This challenge invites participants to design and investigate combinatorial therapeutic strategies that integrate diet, conventional medicine, and complementary therapies. Participants should explore how these combinations can synergize to improve treatment outcomes, including remission rates and quality of life for IBD patients.
PS-18: Reducing Automotive Emissions to Enhance Sustainability and Decrease Carbon Footprint
The use of fuels such as petrol and diesel in vehicles results in the emission of harmful greenhouse gases like NOx, particulate matter, and COx. How can technologies be employed to reduce the carbon footprint without compromising vehicle performance?
PS-19: Sustainable Material Integration in Automotive Manufacturing
The automotive industry faces the challenge of transitioning from conventional materials to sustainable alternatives without compromising performance, durability, or cost-effectiveness. Traditional materials like steel and petroleum-based plastics significantly contribute to carbon emissions and environmental degradation during production and disposal. To address this, research is needed to develop innovative, eco-friendly materials, such as bio-composites, recycled plastics, and lightweight alloys, that meet stringent automotive standards for safety, thermal stability, and impact resistance. This transition must also account for scalability and affordability to ensure adoption across all vehicle segments while reducing the industry’s ecological footprint.
PS-20: Seamless V2V Communication for Safer Autonomous Driving
The growing adoption of autonomous vehicles presents new challenges in ensuring road safety and efficient traffic management. Current systems rely heavily on sensors like cameras, radar, and lidar, which can be limited by weather conditions or physical obstructions. The lack of direct communication between vehicles increases the risk of accidents and inefficient traffic flow. Addressing these gaps is critical to enabling autonomous vehicles to navigate complex environments and ensure passenger and pedestrian safety.
PS-21: AI-Driven Solutions for Mushroom Disease Detection and Autonomous Mold Management
Mushroom farming requires highly controlled environments that can also become breeding grounds for diseases and mold. These issues can spread rapidly, leading to significant crop losses and compromised yield quality. Current monitoring practices are largely manual and reactive, often identifying problems only after damage has occurred. There is a growing need for systems that can monitor and detect diseases early while maintaining the health of mushroom crops in a sustainable and cost-effective manner.
PS-22: Smart Navigation Glasses for Independent Mobility of the Visually Impaired
For visually impaired individuals, navigating through unfamiliar environments or avoiding dynamic obstacles presents significant challenges. Traditional mobility aids like canes or guide dogs provide limited spatial awareness and are not equipped to handle complex or changing environments. Ensuring safe, independent mobility for visually impaired individuals requires innovative solutions that can enhance their ability to interact with and navigate the world around them.
PS-23: Ear Electronic Device for Tinnitus Frequency Identification and Relief
Tinnitus, marked by persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears, affects millions of individuals and poses a significant challenge to quality of life. The condition varies greatly between individuals, with each person experiencing different tinnitus frequencies and severity levels. Current treatment options, such as generic white noise machines or sound therapy, often fail to provide adequate relief due to their inability to target specific tinnitus frequencies. There is a critical need for a device capable of identifying the precise tinnitus frequency and adjusting therapeutic output dynamically to deliver effective, personalized relief for patients.
PS-24: Technology-Powered Flood Management for Faster Response and Recovery
Floods are among the most destructive natural disasters, leading to significant loss of life, displacement, and damage to infrastructure. Despite advances in disaster management, flood response often faces critical challenges such as insufficient early warning systems, delayed coordination among agencies, and ineffective resource distribution. These issues result in prolonged recovery times and increased economic losses. The need for real-time data, efficient communication, and coordinated action is critical to mitigate the devastating impacts of floods and ensure timely and effective disaster management.
PS-25: Software for Renewable Energy Management
In this project, the participants are motivated towards creating different kinds of software designed to improve the management and generation of renewable or sustainable forms of energy. It is possible to create new software tools that can increase the performance and productivity of renewable energy systems. This project will aid in the enhancement of the management of renewable energy systems, thereby establishing an energy system that is more eco-friendly.
PS-26: Carbon Footprint Quantification for Indian Coal Mines
The project involves developing a web application specifically designed for Indian coal mines to quantify their carbon footprint and explore pathways to achieve carbon neutrality. The application will help coal mines in India measure and reduce their carbon emissions, supporting the country’s goals for sustainable energy and environmental conservation.
PS-27: Thermoelectric Energy from Industrial Heat Waste
Global industrial processes annually waste approximately 50 exajoules of heat, a potential source for generating up to 10,000 TWh of electricity. Excess heat can be converted to energy using thermoelectric generators that directly convert temperature differences into electrical voltage, providing off-grid renewable power to underserved populations.
PS-28: Off-Grid Renewable Power for Rural India
Off-grid renewable power is crucial in India as a significant portion of the country's population, particularly in rural areas, still lacks access to reliable electricity. Cost-effective and scalable power solutions tailored to the needs of remote communities can address this gap and bring sustainable energy to underserved regions.
PS-29: Cost-Effective Microgrid Deployment
Microgrids can enhance energy efficiency, with studies showing a potential 15-30% reduction in energy losses compared to traditional centralized power systems. Strategies to reduce the cost of microgrid deployment by 30% while ensuring reliability and sustainability are essential for wide-scale adoption.
PS-30: Sustainable Recycling Solutions for Wind Turbine Blades
Approximately 50,000 tons of wind turbine blades are expected to reach the end of their lifespan by 2030, highlighting the urgent need for effective and sustainable recycling solutions in the wind energy industry. Developing efficient recycling solutions to handle this waste can significantly reduce environmental impact.
Apply Now
Ready to bring your ideas to life? Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to showcase your creativity and problem-solving skills at Kumaraguru Intra Ideathon'24! Collaborate, innovate, and pitch your groundbreaking solutions to a panel of judges. Click below to apply now and be part of this transformative journey!
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