Previous Projects
BEST PRACTICES
After a two-week sprint, teams present their innovative prototypes on the Demo Day.
Explore the standout projects that earned top honors across three distinct awards: Think, Make, and Start, recognizing exceptional creativity, technical excellence, and market potential.
Think Award
the Most Convincing Pitch and Idea
Make Award
the Best Prototype
Start Award
the Greatest Business Potential
Batch #21
Winning Teams
Team AnySpace
Think Award
Problem: Cleaning the common areas of apartment buildings is still done manually. This leads to high administrative effort for property managers and rising cleaning costs, which in turn increase ancillary expenses for tenants.
Solution: Anyspace automates the cleaning of hallways and staircases. The robot can clean both the floors on each level and the stairs themselves using a custom-designed rack-and-pinion mechanism that allows it to climb steps autonomously. This makes it the missing link toward fully automated floor cleaning in complex multi-story buildings, reducing costs by up to 50% while maintaining high cleaning quality.
Team SLOCK
Make Award
Problem: Bicycle theft is a common issue faced by riders everywhere. Many people experience the frustration of having their bikes stolen, often without any way to track or recover them. The lack of reliable security solutions makes it difficult for owners to feel confident leaving their bikes unattended.
Solution: SLOCK helps prevent theft and allows owners to easily monitor their bikes, offering peace of mind and making it easier for riders to enjoy their journeys without constant worry.
Team Hefex Labs
Start Award
Problem: Printed Circuit Board (PCB) prototypes are often assembled manually, which takes a lot of time and increases labor costs. Existing pick-and-place machines are designed for mass production, making them expensive and impractical for small-scale prototyping.
Solution: With Hefex Labs, PCB prototypes can be assembled more efficiently and reliably using a cost-effective and time-saving process. By enhancing design tools and manufacturing methods, high-quality prototypes can be produced faster and with greater precision.
Batch #20
Winning Teams
Team MEDEasy
Think Award
Problem: Electric power supply in Nigeria is unstable, with reoccurring power outages or even lack of access. Many medicines need to be cooled down to be kept under 25ºC, and breaking the cold chain leads to the degradation of these products, creating healthcare inequalities.
Solution: We have created a device that keeps medical products at the desired temperature, without the need of electricity, making it reliable in remote areas, long-lasting (which is essential for transportation) and way more affordable than current solutions.
Team ZeitloseZeilen
Make Award
Problem: Our Grandparents have lived through wars, cross-country moves, and countless heartfelt family moments, but we, the grandchildren only catch bits and pieces of these stories.
Solution: Erzählomat, a retro suitcase AI, gently guides the elderly to open up about their past with one intuitive click and prompts the Grandparent to create a vivid, shareable biography—all processed securely on-device.
Team Liftops
Start Award
Problem: 25% of airport delays are caused by inefficient, labor-intensive ground operations struggling with workforce shortages. The physically demanding work leads to health issues and sick leave, further increasing delays.
Solution: Our POWERGRIP helps ground handling companies reduce aircraft turnaround times by enhancing personnel reliability, supporting luggage workers in performing their tasks effortlessly with reliable, easy-to-use mechanical assistance.
Batch #19
Winning Teams
Think Award
Problem: The docking process is the #1 pain point for sailors. Docking creates stress and creates damage of over €72M per season in Europe alone.
Solution: SimpleSail offers a high quality and retrofittable docking assistant called “Zero Pier Pressure” (ZPP), aimed primarily at charter firms. ZPP assists the captain during the docking process by visualizing the distance to other objects. Additionally, it gives the captain a 360-degree vision of the boat, which helps to directly identify the potential source of collision.
Make Award
Problem: When cultivating new plants, the process of plant rating is a strenuous and manual process that does not involve any technology. Also, the records are unreliable and the variety of data is limited to textual notes.
Solution: Bonista captures visual, soil and location data and collects it all in one easy-to-use software. Due to the amount of data, not only cultivators can benefit from it but any person that needs data about plants.
Start Award
Problem: Visually impaired individuals face challenges navigating new spaces independently due to inaccessible signage. This issue is particularly evident at temporary events, where organizers lack cost-effective solutions to ensure accessibility without significant effort or investment.
Solution: Navigaze combines Aruco markers, a wearable camera, and bone-conducting headphones. Event organizers can rent our devices and place markers alongside standard signs, providing accessible navigation for visually impaired attendees without expensive modifications.
Batch #18
Winning Teams
Think Award
Problem: interacting with digital 3D models is not intuitive. There is a barrier between the physical and digital world. First time Users are unable to access the information they want.
Solution: the Orienter – a device, that allows you to intuitively navigate in 3D models. Every rotation applied to the orienter is represented on the 3D model. It’s as easy as picking up the real thing.
Make Award
Problem: Negative health implications caused by bad air quality, like decreased cognitive abilities or headaches.
Solution: A retrofittable smart home solution for your window. It measures e.g. CO² level and sends push notifications to your phone.
Start Award
Problem: Manual inventory management is prone to human errors and puts unnecessary pressure on paramedics in time-critical shifts. This affects both the response readiness of ambulance services and the mental health of paramedics.
Solution: We introduce to you Medi ScanCheck, the solution for real-time inventory checks of emergency packs using state-of-the-art RFID technology. With our approach EMTs do not have to worry about forgetting crucial equipment and can focus on what they are supposed to do – saving lifes!
Batch #17
Winning Teams
THINK Award for the most convincing pitch and idea (Chosen by Audience)
Problem: Rheumatoid Uncertainty: Rheumatoid arthritis patients face daily uncertainty, struggling to track their inflammation accurately and make informed decisions. Delayed Care: Overloaded healthcare systems lead to prolonged wait times for blood test results, delaying vital medical care for patients.
Solution: InflammAid Empowers: InflammAid provides patients with real-time inflammation tracking, offering control and insight into their condition. Timely Alerts: InflammAid delivers timely notifications, enabling early intervention and reducing the need.
MAKE Award for the best Prototype (Chosen by Jury)
Problem: Foundation mixing is messy and takes a lot of time. Furthermore, it is hard to match clients’ skin color.
Solution: Foundation station is a device that scans your skin color & creates a personalized foundation, that perfectly matches your skin
START Award for the greatest business potential (Chosen by Jury)
Problem: Craftsmen lack simple and reliable products to ensure their safety at work, specifically on ladders, without additional effort or time consumption.
Solution: GripMate by Craftsense is a smart ladder that supports Craftsmen by providing additional safety awareness & prevention for the most common ladder accidents.
Batch #16
Winning Teams
ARISE
THINK Award for the most convincing pitch and idea (Chosen by Audience)
Problem: Transitioning from the sitting to the standing position on the toilet
Solution: Mechanical spring system to support transitioning
Familio
MAKE Award for the best Prototype (Chosen by Jury)
Problem: The elderly often can’t cope with today’s communication technologies, while young people don’t like to call them very often. Hence it is hard for grandparents to keep up with what’s going on in their family.
Solution:The Familio Home connects both generations using the means of communication both sides are used to: Young people can send images to the Familio home using telegram. The pictures then show up in the digital picture frame and grandparents can respond to them using the phone, which sends a voice message back to telegram
Sonitect
START Award for the greatest business potential (Chosen by Jury)
Problem: In the automotive industry, assembly-line workers need to connect thousands of cable connections daily. Although the characteristic click sound indicates a proper cable connection, it can be difficult to hear in noisy production environments, resulting in misconnections and costly rework
Solution: an audio inspection device that analyzes the sound of the “click” to detect (in)correct cable connections.
A two week course hosted by TUM Lab for Product Development and Lightweight Design, designed to foster innovation.
Giving students the chance to work on real world problems, exploring the potential of new technologies or challenges by developing new solutions.
Our goal is to promote innovation and facilitate the creation of new spin-outs at TUM.
