In an impressive achievement, students from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Coimbatore have won the All-Track Grand Prize at HackHarvard 2024, an internationally renowned collegiate hackathon organized by Harvard University students. Competing with teams from prestigious institutions, including Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and the University of Toronto, the Amrita team clinched the "Overall Best Hack" award, surpassing notable universities that secured second and third positions.
The winning team comprises third-year B.Tech Artificial Intelligence students from Amrita’s Coimbatore campus: Amrit Subramanian, Kottakki Srikar Vamsi, Chukka Navneet Krishna, and Surya Santhosh Kumar. They were celebrated for their AI-powered application, Sustainify, which guides users toward sustainable living by facilitating waste repurposing and eco-conscious shopping decisions.
"HackHarvard featured renowned professors and industry experts leading parallel sessions. We attended sessions by Prof. David Malan from CS50 and Dr. Leslie Valiant, a Turing Award winner. Our team dedicated the first 10 hours to brainstorming the right idea within the provided tracks: Smart City, Sustainability, Open Source Data, and Healthcare. After much discussion, we developed an app that allows users to upload a video of a product’s packaging, instantly revealing its environmental and health impacts.
If a product is deemed harmful, the app suggests healthier alternatives. The final evaluations were conducted by over 40 judges, including product managers and CEOs from companies like Microsoft and various startups," said C. Amrit Subramanian, one of the winners.
Sustainify enables users to upload images of waste items, such as bottles or soda cans, and suggests creative DIY upcycling ideas. Additionally, the app has an eco-shopping assistant feature, which scans products in stores and offers recommendations for items with lower carbon footprints. The app aims to inspire sustainable lifestyles, benefiting both people and the planet.
"This year, HackHarvard brought together 600 college students from across the globe, including students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford. It was a 36-hour marathon of coding and collaboration. The competition was judged on four key criteria: innovation, technical complexity, functionality, and collaboration.
Our students’ project, 'Sustainify,' was the Best Project presented at the Hackathon. Second and third prize went to MIT students. It is for the first time that an Indian Team won the overall best since its inception in 2015," said Professor Dr. Soman K.P., Dean, Amrita School of Artificial Intelligence, Coimbatore.
The team was mentored by Dr. B. Premraj and Sai Sundarakrishna from Amrita's School of Artificial Intelligence in Coimbatore.
HackHarvard, an annual hackathon that attracts students from around the world, encourages collaboration on innovative solutions for pressing global issues. This year’s event, held from October 11-13 on Harvard's campus, focused on the theme "Hack 4 Impact – Unlocking the Potential of Technology" and hosted over 1,000 participants from 22 countries and 284 universities.
About Amrita University:
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is a distinguished multi-campus, multidisciplinary university, accredited with an A++ rating by NAAC. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is ranked 81st globally in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2024, showcasing its dedication to meaningful education and research. The university spans nine campuses across five states.
The university holds two UNESCO Chairs—one for Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation & Development and another for Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment. Headquartered in Coimbatore, Amrita operates across nine campuses in five states and is involved in over 500 global collaborations, including with Harvard University and the University of Oxford. Founded by Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), Amrita continues to embody her vision of education and research driven by universal values.