Education
Plus Karnataka Chennai Coimbatore Hyderabad Madurai Tiruchirapalli Vijayawada Visakhapatnam
 
Innovative minds,
useful products
MEERA SRINIVASAN
| Making engineering work for the visually impaired and the
differently-abled and turning out cost-effective and
time-saving devices can be challenging. But these students
seem to relish it. |
Students of Sri Sairam Engineering College seem to
have invested a good amount of time in project work. Not
surprisingly, they have bagged several awards for their innovative
attempts.
Integrating machinery
M.R. Aravind Raghavendra, R. Arun, H. Chidambaram
and V. Yuvaraj, who passed out this year, have won the `Innovative
Students Project Award 2006' instituted by the Indian National
Academy of Engineering (INAE) for their project on `Fabrication and
Automation of PLC-Based LMD Machine Centre'. The award will be
presented at Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi on
December 8.
Their project was about integrating lathe, mill and
drill machines into a single unit and automating the unit's
functioning. The project was aimed at providing a low-cost
automation solution to small-scale entrepreneurs.
Reduced initial and operating cost of the machine,
easier and simple manufacturing of various geometric work pieces,
reduction in area occupied by machine, reduction of the lead time of
the product and increased productivity are some of the advantages
that come with this unit.
"We took nearly eight months to complete our
project. We wish to patent our product and then approach the
industry," said Arvind.
Voice-controlled wheelchair
Abhiram Chakraborty, S. Swaminathan and A. Varun
Kalyan of the Electronics and Communications Department bagged the
first place in the State-level project exhibition held at National
Engineering College, Kovilpatti.
The highlight of their project on `Voice-controlled
electrical wheel chair with obstacle detection' was the voice
recognition unit that helps the user to move in the direction of
their choice, following a vocal command. Designed to suit the
requirements of the visually-impaired and physically-challenged, the
wheelchair is designed to work on both auto and manual mode. In the
auto mode, it follows the user's voice commands and navigates
through the place, detecting obstacles with the aid of the diffused
sensors. In the manual mode, the user could move about with the help
of a switch.
This project was also recognised as the best social
project by the Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology.
"As of now, we have implemented only a certain
number of commands such as stop, go, and right. We can introduce
several more commands to suit specific requirements of a user," said
Swaminathan.
Cycle
for the differently-abled
L. Leo Tolstoy, D. Anthony Raj, K. Raja and D.N.S.
Praveen worked on `Design and fabrication of the cycle for the
physically-challenged by replacing the rotary motion with
reciprocating motion'.
Here, the cycle would be operated by the movement
of a lever. The cycle enables the differently-abled to operate it
with the lever or the pedal, depending on their requirements.
"This will help to bring down the physical exertion
and enable the physically-challenged to move about with ease,"
explained Leo. The students said care was taken to ensure easy
reversal and fast movement.
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Education
Plus Karnataka Chennai Coimbatore Hyderabad Madurai Tiruchirapalli Vijayawada Visakhapatnam
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