Did you know that one of TUM’s student associations holds the world records for both the most efficient electric vehicle and the longest-range electric car? Or that startups as big as Flixbus, Isar Aerospace, and Lilium come from our very own university? Here at TUM, we teach young girls how to code, we build drones that deliver defibrillators in half the time it takes an ambulance to do so, we make tunnels so fast they win Elon Musk’s not-so-boring competition, and we develop solutions that allow quadriplegic people to control devices with their brains.
All of these amazing initiatives and more came together on Saturday, September 23rd, at the Student Initiative Night held by the TUM Blockchain Club at the Deutsches Museum. We had the pleasure of sharing a glimpse of our activities and views with a room full of people on our same journey: being part of a student club that tries to bring value to the Munich environment.
The evening started with a workshop taught by Philip Prestele, well-renowned member of UnternehmerTUM. In it, we split into groups with similar interests (HR, public relations, marketing, etc.) and wrote about problems we encountered in our day-to-day management of a student association. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that all of us—from aerospatial clubs to startup-building clubs, from well-established international organizations to the ones that were founded weeks ago—had almost the exact same problems. The solution? To tackle them together!
Before indulging in some networking and partying, we learned about all of the activities being carried out at our university. We at neuroTUM, of course, shared our own progress and short-term goal: our eager participation in the upcoming Cybathlon 2024! Specifically, we’re gearing up to compete in the Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) category, where our technology will establish a direct link between a quadriplegic pilot’s brain and a video game’s control system. We have a number of steps to take in order to accomplish this: first, a group of people work with our pilot to repeat brain signals with the help of an EEG; next, those signals are processed to be able to distinguish them; and finally, with the help of deep learning, we will be able to translate them into video game commands like “left” and “right”. Just imagine what we could do with this technology in the future!
This year, as we hinted at the event, we are expanding into both neuromorphic computing and electronics as an addition to our BCI, communications, and operations teams. If you’re interested in getting involved, the application process will be open from the 25th of October until the 1st of November. Don’t miss it!
Finally, we wanted to thank UnternehmerTUM and the TUM Blockchain Club for bringing us such an amazing experience with this Student Initiatives Night. Count us in for next year!
Article written by Carlota
Edited by Isabel