Inside IIT Gandhinagar’s Prototype Lab: Project Madhav Leads Innovation

IIT Gandhinagar is set to revolutionize classrooms at an early age. The toolkit it is preparing could change how India manufactures. Here is the story of the IIT innovation that is drawing attention at the India AI Impact Summit 2026.

The India AI Impact Summit 2026

Over 20 Heads of State, 60 Ministers, 500 Global AI Leaders, and thousands of visitors and delegates from across the world gathered at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 held at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi. The event showcased India’s technological ambitions, featuring innovations from IITs, start-ups, and major companies like TCS.

In Hall No. 8, while IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, and IIT Bombay displayed their advanced innovations, IIT Gandhinagar presented something different—a set of bare semiconductor prototypes, with wires exposed and circuits visible, waiting to be assembled. These machines are not products; they are lessons, and they may soon reach schools.

Transforming Education Through Hands-On Learning

For years, Indian education has excelled at explaining technology. Students learn formulas, logic, and theory, but they rarely engage with the machines they study. The IIT Gandhinagar project begins with a simple question: what if students build computers before they learn about them?

“We propose to build a transformative, multi-level curriculum designed to build national capacity in semiconductor design and hardware systems, while promoting indigenous processors like Vega as a part of curriculum design,” says Manu Awasthi, PhD Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar.

Teaching Semiconductors by Putting Them in Students’ Hands

The institute has developed hardware learning kits that allow students to assemble working electronic systems from scratch. Each kit contains:

• Integrated circuits
• Breadboards
• Switches
• Connectors

These basic elements form larger computing systems. Using these kits, students can build devices like digital clocks or calculators. As they progress, they learn how circuits connect, how signals travel, and how electronic systems are designed. They also learn how printed circuit boards are created, how components are placed, connected, and turned into functional machines.

The program follows a layered approach. Students begin with basic logic and gradually move towards more complex hardware. The kits are designed for high school students, polytechnic learners, and first-year engineering students. It took nearly a year to develop the first prototypes, and the accompanying curriculum is now being prepared. A proposal has also been submitted to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to support rollout in schools and teacher training.

Fostering Future Innovators

The goal of this initiative is not to teach artificial intelligence directly but to teach the hardware that makes artificial intelligence possible. “We have written a proposal to MeitY which is under consideration for funding under the capacity building initiatives of MeitY. If funding is received, we will develop courses and kits and partner with schools to run pilots and training programs for teachers,” added Awasthi.

Without processors, circuits, and chip design, AI cannot exist. Students who understand hardware early can later design faster, more efficient systems.

Learning from China’s Journey

India’s push into semiconductors has accelerated in recent years, with government programs supporting chip manufacturing, design, and research. However, factories and funding alone cannot create capability; it begins with people. China recognized this early on.

Over the past two decades, China invested heavily in practical technical education. Electronics labs became common in schools, and polytechnic institutes focused on hardware skills. Students were trained not only to use technology but to build it. This approach created a workforce capable of designing and manufacturing chips, devices, and communication systems. Today, China is one of the world’s largest electronics producers.

“AI is not integrated into these kits at all. The goal is to make students at all levels understand the general principles of hardware design. Once they understand how computer systems work, they can use this understanding to inform the decisions needed to build high-performance, low-energy hardware for AI, like GPUs,” Awasthi explained.

Changing the Educational Landscape

The shift in education began long before factories; it began in classrooms. India’s education system has strong theoretical depth, but practical hardware learning often arrives late. Many students complete school without assembling even a simple electronic system. By the time they encounter hardware, career choices are already shaped.

The IIT Gandhinagar initiative attempts to change that starting point. When a student connects circuits and sees a system come alive, learning becomes real. Technology stops being abstract; it becomes something they understand, control, and create.

Future Prospects

The Centre for Creative Learning at IIT Gandhinagar, which is leading the project, has already worked with schools on hands-on science education. This experience is now being extended to semiconductor learning. If introduced widely, these kits could create early familiarity with the foundations of computing.

At the AI Summit, surrounded by finished machines and advanced platforms, the IIT Gandhinagar prototypes may appear incomplete. However, their purpose lies in their incompleteness. They are designed to be finished by students, because India’s semiconductor future may not begin in a fabrication plant; it may begin on a school desk, with a student assembling their first circuit.

Note: The initiative by IIT Gandhinagar represents a significant step towards enhancing practical education in India, fostering a generation of innovators capable of contributing to the technological landscape.