Problem with gait? Don’t worry, robotics will help
An incident that led to a friend losing mobility in one leg made a group of students brainstorm and come up with a solution. The four students of Trinity College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, have created a robotic device called Gait And Stance Assisting Device (GSAD) that will enable a person who has lost function of one of their limbs.
“We had been searching for ideas for our final year project. It was then that a friend of ours met with an accident and lost ability in one of his legs. It was very difficult for him to climb stairs and also walk. So, we thought of helping him out,” says Sreeprabha S P.
The device mimics the movements of the good leg and assists the other in doing the same motions. “The entire device is environment-friendly. The components are made of bio-degradable material but are sturdy,” says Sreeprabha, who along with the team is planning to turn their prototype into a product and found a startup.
Turning gestures into voice
Vimun A of Government Engineering College, Barton Hill in Thiruvananthapuram, has come up with an innovation that can turn hand gestures into sound. He says the innovative device will help people who can’t speak have meaningful conversations with those who don’t follow the sign language. The device has been encrypted with the Indian Sign Language. All it needs is a ring and a watch, he explains.
Managing nuclear reactors and weeding out creepers
He students of Providence College of Engineering, Chengannur, in Alappuzha, have come up with an innovative solution to trounce the menace of the aquatic weeds with zero waste generation.
Pavan Sreekumar and Josen P Joseph, two of the four-member team, have created a machine that draws in the water hyacinth and other aquatic weeds using buoyant ropes attached to rollers.
“The rollers pull in the weeds using the rope. The weeds are then carried to the crushers that squeeze out the moisture. The byproduct gets packed and sent to farmers as mulch,” says Josen. The entire operation is automatic since the machine is a robot, he adds.
Another product showcased by the team was Gesto Mimicking Limb. “It is dangerous to go inside nuclear reactors to correct any issues. But by using robots one can do that easily,” Josen says. The Gesto robot arm is different from the ones already on the market. “It can be operated without any physical contact. All you need is a laptop and software that recognises gestures. So one can stand outside, send in the robot arm and then operate it through gestures. Zero error and zero danger of radiation contamination,” he adds.
A friend on campus
The students of the UKF College of Engineering and Technology in Kollam, have come up with a humanoid robot that helps the newcomers navigate the campus with ease. “The idea germinated after we found people coming to the campus finding it difficult to get to the departments they wanted to visit. Campus Mithra can identify the needs of the person posing the query and then guide them to the right office or department,” says Sreehari S S, a final-year student of the college.
The students spent more than Rs 1.50 lakh to make the robot. “The first stage of Campus Mithra had very few features. It just directed the people to the respective departments. But after the second upgrade, the robot does everything, right from the admission status to the process, procedures, and user interaction.”
The students are planning on more upgrades that will see the Campus Mithra even acting as a humanoid CCTV camera. “The aim is to make the bot useful in assisted living situations. Right now the bot works on WiFi, we are also planning to install a SIM so that it can work anywhere,” says Sreehari.
Drones for disaster zones
These days drones are ruling the roost. And the students of Adi Sankara College of Engineering at Kalady in Ernakulam have come up with an innovation that enables using drones to identify life 60 metres below ground. Their next innovation, another drone, enables the police, defence personnel or personnel involved in rescue operations to penetrate deep into forests and other congested areas to carry out recon operations.
Their third drone can go 200 m/s, stop suddenly and make tight turns all within seconds. “This makes the drone very useful in situations where urgency is great,” he adds. And the fourth one can carry a thermal sensing camera as its payload.
Getting business done from under the dams
As Sunil Paul, director of Christ Center for Innovation and Open Learning at Christ College of Engineering, Irinjalakuda says, “Dam care and mapping is something that is not happening as much as needed.” The team of students under him has been working on underwater robots that would scan and map the waterbody associated with the dam along with getting real-time pictures of the dam walls.
“We have already made three robots and the team is made up of students from various branches of engineering,” he adds. According to him, their robots have been used by Central Water Power Research Station based in Pune.
“It has authorisation to inspect durability and safety of dams in the country,” he adds. Explaining more he says, “The dam walls feel the pressure from water but also the sediments that have accumulated over the years,” says Sunil. The robots help authorities find the situation underneath the water and along the dam walls. These robots are also being used by I4Marine Systems in their unmanned catamarans.