Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :

Arpita B enthusiastically clamps the sensors to the wrist. With deft plucking of the keys, she feeds her subject’s age, gender and body weight.

Then, five pairs of eyes excitedly watch the display of the gadget as it flashes some numbers. “Here’s your body fat,” 18-year-old Arpita said with a smile.

Know your body fat

The group of five girls from GWPTR College in Ramanagaram, which Arpita is part of, are proud of their invention – bio-electrical body fat analyser.

The model was one of several exhibits at the three-day engineering fair at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, which showed potential for future mass production.

The girls made this device in two months at Rs 15,500. “We’ve done successful tests on people and several doctors have verified the readings,” Arpita said.

Organised by the ministry of culture for industrial training students between the ages of 18 and 23, the fair displayed several simple innovations that had practical applicability.

Bomb-detection robot

Mohammed Nuhid’s bomb-detection robot is one such invention. The fourth-semester industrial training student from the Government ITI College came up with the solution as he was moved by the scenes of soldiers being ripped apart by IEDs and landmines.

The robot can detect metal, batteries and explosive substances from a distance, Nuhid said. The battery-operated device can crawl several miles, saving the user from harm. Nuhid put the device together in 10 days, spending Rs 4,000.

Wireless CNC tractor

The wireless CNC multi-purpose tractor was one more incredible piece of innovation that five boys from the MEI Polytechnic made for cash-strapped farmers.

“This tractor can perform multiple tasks like removing weeds, tilling land, and sowing and levelling the ground to prevent birds from eating the seeds,” said Dhanush S, who is part of the team that came up with the tractor.

“We designed this exhibit after learning about the troubles farmers go through to hire field hands. This will significantly cut down their labour cost,” Dhanush added.

The team tested the tractor, which they designed in a month and made with just Rs 17,500, at a farm in Hoskote.

Automated sericulture gadget

Three innovators proudly demonstrated the Sericulture and Automation Centre, which would allow farmers to double their silk produce while halving their workload. Works are automatically fed to the centre, where temperature and moisture are moderated. The farmer can monitor the progress on CCTVs or mobile phones.

Hemanth Kumar H A, co-inventor of the technology with fellow students of APS Polytechnic, said the model can also work well for poultry, livestock and pisciculture.

In all, the fair displayed 85 different models ranging from automated money transfers with debit/credit cards, accident safety chambers in aircraft (to ensure passengers do not die in crashes), laser-based thermocol cutters, mobile phone-based home-monitoring devices to automated helmet connector with motorbikes.

A special platform had been given to students from the Association of People with Disability.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DH News Service / Bengaluru – March 16th, 2018