1 week Ago By A Ragu Raman
Chennai: Algorithms to select your roommates, virtual reality (VR) pods for relaxation, smart mattresses for correct sleep posture, and luminescent paints are some of the measures college students have suggested to improve mental well-being in hostels. IIT Madras conducted a hackathon for college students across the country, asking them to come up with innovative ideas to implement within the proposed smart hostel on its campus. As many as 660 teams comprising more than 1,500 students from across the country took part in the hackathon.
"Students were asked to come up with smart solutions to improve the comfort and mental well-being of students in hostels," said professor Nikhil Bugalia, coordinator of the hackathon and faculty member from the department of civil engineering, IIT Madras. "Many of the solutions proposed focused on categories such as wearables and vision-based approaches, which are interesting but also present challenges related to safety, security, and ethical concerns," he said. Suicides were earlier reported in IIT Madras, and a mental health survey also found about 2% of students had stress-related issues.
"Until now, experts were tasked with improving the mental well-being of students. Now, we thought of directly seeking solutions from students. It was an eye-opener for us as students spoke about things we had not prioritized, such as getting the right roommate, quiet spaces, and sleep patterns," said professor Ravindra Gettu, coordinator of hackathon and faculty member from department of civil engineering, IIT-M.
"Ensuring quality food in the hostels is one of the main problems identified by students. Not a majority of students focused on academic stress. They focused on issues like loneliness they face in their day-to-day life," he added.
A total of 452 teams submitted their problem statements and key ideas to address them. Out of these, 24 teams were invited to develop detailed submissions based on detailed feedback given to them. The top 10 teams from this shortlist were given prize money of 25,000 each.
IIT Madras also shortlisted four teams. They will now be invited to the IIT campus for detailed discussions and presentations before the winner is decided..
