Mon Jan 06 19:34:35 UTC 2025: ## IIT Madras’ Shaastra 2025: Robots, Hovercrafts, and Microbes Take Center Stage
**Chennai, January 7, 2025** – The annual Shaastra technology festival at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) is underway, showcasing the ingenuity of students through a series of captivating competitions. Monday’s events featured robot soccer matches, hovercraft challenges, and a microbiology contest.
Over 100 teams participated in the robot soccer competition, where robots, weighing a maximum of 5kg, battled for supremacy using tennis balls on a makeshift field. The finals are scheduled for Tuesday. Meanwhile, a separate hovercraft competition saw 13 teams compete to pick up and deposit a ball in a box within a six-minute time limit. The winners will share a prize purse of Rs. 1.75 lakh.
A microbiology contest, judged by faculty from IITM and the National Institute of Ocean Technology, tasked students with identifying microorganisms on a Petri dish. The competition highlighted the importance of basic biochemical characterization knowledge for biotechnology students.
The Hindu is a media partner for Shaastra 2025.
First Piper 