Where Ideas Become Real
A 4,500 sq ft fabrication facility at Ashoka University — laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC machines, drones, and a culture of building things that matter.
Built for Making
Located in the Innovation Centre at Ashoka University, our Makerspace gives students, researchers, and residents the tools to go from concept to prototype — and beyond.
Industrial-Grade Tools
Professional fabrication equipment accessible to every student — from first-years to PhD researchers.
Trotec Speedy 400 Flexx
Dual-source laser cutter — 120W CO2 + 50W Fiber. Cuts and engraves wood, acrylic, metal, fabric, and more.
CNC Router (Mehta FX-1325V-ATC)
Automatic tool changer, large-format bed. Precision milling for wood, composites, and soft metals.
CNC Turning Machine (Jyoti DX60)
High-precision lathe for metal turning, threading, and cylindrical parts fabrication.
Formlabs Fuse 1+ (SLS)
Selective laser sintering — industrial-quality nylon parts without support structures. Ideal for functional prototypes.
Formlabs Form 4L (SLA)
Large-format resin printing at micron-level detail. Biocompatible, castable, and engineering resins.
Drone Fleet
DJI Matrice 4T and Mavic 3E. Thermal imaging, survey-grade mapping, and environmental monitoring. Certified drone pilots on staff.
Fabric & Textile Workstations
Three industrial sewing machines for soft goods prototyping, wearable tech, and textile-based projects.
Wood Workshop
Extended wood workshop with dust extraction, hand tools, and power tools. Managed by experienced woodworking staff.
Computing & Design
High-performance workstations, creative tools, and high-capacity data storage for computational design and media production.
Covalent Magnetic Tweezers
One of its kind in India — a single-molecule force spectroscopy instrument built in-house, enabling nanometer-resolution biophysics research.
The CMT instrument monitors hundreds of single molecules simultaneously at millisecond and nanometer resolution. It enables non-invasive manipulation of biological and synthetic particles for applications spanning biophysics, protein dynamics, drug screening, and nanotechnology.
Built with a custom C++/Python hybrid software system, the instrument features real-time bead tracking, force ramps, force clamps, and unfolding/refolding cycle analysis. The Makerspace team fabricated a custom 3D-printed magnet holder with C-mount threads — the kind of cross-disciplinary build that defines what we do.
Instrument Components
Recognition
Cell Press Technology of the Month
Publications from this Instrument
Communications Biology (Nature portfolio)
DOI: 10.1038/s42003-025-08727-z
Protein Science — Antibodies enhance antigen mechanical robustness
Protein Science (2025), 34: e70201
Biochemistry — p47 stabilizing role in protein folding
Biochemistry (2025), 64(15):3272-3279
What We're Building
From air quality sensors to autonomous robots — projects that combine engineering skill with real-world impact.
Indoor Air Quality Sensor Network
Open-source sensor nodes monitoring six key parameters — particulate matter, CO2, volatile organic compounds, temperature, and humidity — with centralized dashboards for real-time campus-wide air quality monitoring.
SLAM Robot
Autonomous navigation system using depth cameras and stereoscopic vision. Open-source. Built by Maker-in-Residence Ayush Tiwari.
Drosophila Thermal Maze
Custom instrument for sleep and behaviour research — Peltier-based temperature control, LED panorama, IR camera tracking. Only 2–3 labs globally have built this apparatus.
IKS Jantar Mantar
3D-printed parametric reconstructions of Jantar Mantar astronomical instruments for hands-on science education.
Dots: Tactile Dot Grid
Refreshable tactile dot grid for accessibility. Presented at HCII 2025, Gothenburg, Sweden.
DIY Air Purifier (2nd Gen)
HEPA + activated carbon filtration unit designed for community builds. Open-design, low-cost air purification.
Hexagon PCB
Custom PCB flagship project designed for production runs — bringing electronics manufacturing capability in-house.
Low-Cost Electroporator
Low-cost biophysical gene transfection setup enabling genome editing experiments at a fraction of commercial instrument costs.
Maker-in-Residence
A fellowship embedding makers, engineers, and designers in the Makerspace for up to nine months to tackle ambitious research and engineering projects alongside the Lab.
Ayush Tiwari
July 2025 – March 2026
Building the SLAM Robot — an autonomous navigation system using depth cameras and stereoscopic vision. Open-source repositories published.
Ajad Ismail
August 2025 – March 2026
Building the Drosophila Thermal Maze for sleep and adaptive behaviour research — a custom instrument with only 2–3 equivalents globally.
Physics & Experimental Science
The Makerspace enables research that can't be done with off-the-shelf equipment — custom experimental setups designed and fabricated in-house.
Table Top Experiments: Glacier Flow Dynamics
Pramoda Kumar · Assistant Professor, Physics
Using non-Newtonian fluid (xanthan gum) flows to model glacier dynamics. 35+ controlled experiments demonstrating universal self-similar scaling of viscous gravity currents, with Fourier analysis of fingering instabilities and custom Python analysis tools.
Pedagogical Experiments: Quantum & Statistical Physics
Pramoda Kumar · with Dipankar Bhattacharya
Designed and built novel experimental setups for undergraduate quantum and statistical physics labs, including quantum optics experiments and statistical physics setups now integrated into the Physics department curriculum.
Infrastructure for the Entire Lab
The Makerspace doesn't just serve its own projects — it builds tools, instruments, and custom hardware for research across all five pillars.
Pollen Project
Custom robotic microscope stage attachment for 3D pollen imaging
Fire Mapping
Drone access for fire and wildlife research surveys
Low-Cost Electroporator
Low-cost electroporator collaboration for gene transfection
Beyond the Lab
Building a maker culture at Ashoka and connecting with the wider K-12 and maker community.
Community Outreach
2,000+
Students and community members reached through CS Olympiad, Young Scholars Programme sessions, Lodha Genius Programme, and community events.
Campus Events
800+
First-year students engaged through Orientation Week — live 3D printing, rapid builds, and projection mapping demos.
Maker Culture
17
Student mentors trained in peer leadership. Makerspace Club founded. Academic credit internship formalized (2–4 credits).
Events & Engagements
Kailash Nadh — "Tinker Thinker Maker Mover"
CTO of Zerodha. 100+ attendees + fireside chats.
Hacktoberfest 2025
240+ interactions — OSINT, open-source contributions, custom projects.
Halloween Collaboration
With Ashoka University student Cultural Ministry. ~1,000 participants.
RedBrick Hacks III
430+ applicants from 91 universities. 60 on-campus finalists. Full coverage →
Our Network
Param Foundation
Partnership for co-hosting hackathons, educational grants, and Delhi exhibit space collaboration.
TinkerHub Foundation
Student maker community partnership from Kochi. Challenge-style hackathon structure collaboration.
Maker Bhavan Foundation
Makerspace development advisory. RedBrick Hacks III collaboration and maker ecosystem building.
Stanford University
ShistoDx team (RedBrick Hacks III Outstanding Award) selected for research collaboration with Prof. Manu Prakash's lab.
Want to Build Something?
The Makerspace is open to all Ashoka students and researchers. Reach out to start a project, apply for the Maker-in-Residence program, or just come explore.