IIT Jodhpur faculty members to research through ‘Moonshot’ project

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur has created a unique platform to encourage its faculty and researchers to pursue innovative and disruptive ideas.

The project has been named ‘Moonshot Competition, under this, the idea is to develop projects that can eventually lead to large-scale solutions to improve health, societal, economic and environmental issues.

With such an initiative, the IIT Jodhpur plans to stimulate new research initiatives to foster creativity and team-building alongside addressing urgent problems and paving the way to a sustainable future.

Recently, the ‘Moonshot Competition’ was organized for faculty members of the institute. They had to present their ideas through a pre-recorded video pitch.

Highlighting the unique aspects of this innovative platform, Prof, Santanu Chaudhury, Director, IIT Jodhpur, said: “The main objective of the competition is to encourage a moonshot culture and future-driven mindset in the institute, leading to transformational technologies and effective interventions for responding to societal challenges and aspirations.”

IIT Jodhpur: Moonshot Projects

Some of the solution-oriented ideas selected under Moonshot Competition include an idea on Harvesting an Asteroid Microwave AssistedRock Pulverize and Electrostatic Separator which is related to Space, Microwave, shared by Prof. Debanjan Guha. Prof. Sumit Kalra shared through a video an idea on Personal Independent Digital Twin related to AI, while Prof. Sankalp Pratap, Prof. Romi, Prof. G. V. Reddy, Prof. Dibyadyuti Roy shared their creative idea on BRBL (To create countless 'Birbals' through technology intervention in Education) related to Education-AI.

Dr Sankalp Pratap talking about the BRBL project said: “BRBL aims to work on the stated ideals of NEP 2020, providing high-quality nuanced inputs to children from all strata of society employing innovative technology.”

Dr Debanjan Roy, Assistant Professor, IIT Jodhpur talking about the initiative said: “The international community has gradually started accepting the idea of deep space exploration, human settlement in space, and resource generation from celestial bodies. In the past few years, multiple governments and space agencies have invested in developing technology and formulating regulatory frameworks for this purpose. India is in a unique position to leverage its space expertise to pioneer resource exploration on the moon and asteroids. We need strong support from the industry and government to be a leader in this domain.”

Two of the faculty members, Prof. Suchetana Chakraborty and Prof. Ankita Sharma submitted an idea on ‘ExPoPsych: Experiencing Positivity at the face of Psychological Vulnerability.’ which is related to AI and Psychology.

Dr Sumit Kalra talking about his Digital Twin project said that Personalized Independent Digital Twin is the next big revolution after the Internet and AI that has the potential to impact the society on each and every level. “The intervention can result in highly optimized decision-making and execution of tasks,” he said.

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