Industrial Automation Magazine India

We got great offers and encouragement from the exhibiting companies

Published on : Friday 13-10-2023

Naimatullah Mullah, Umesh Suvasiya and Prajwal Poojari, Students.

Did you receive any offers or encouragement from exhibiting companies or visiting industry professionals?
The project is a prototype for a hand gesture controlled electric wheelchair. The transmitter is mounted on the band which is to be worn by the user and the receiver part is installed in the wheelchair. The gesture sensor detects the gestures and transmits it; the receiver then drives the wheelchair as per the commands given by the user. The project topic was suggested by our mentor as a social cause project for the betterment of society.
 
How was the response from visitors and peers to your project at Automation Expo 2023?
The response by the visitors and peers was really helpful and motivating. As some of the responses were related to the improvements and ideas that need to be implemented on the project, we are really looking forward to working on those things.
 
Please explain your project briefly in a few sentences. What inspired you to work on this project?

Yes, we got great offers and encouragement from the exhibiting companies. As some of the companies gave us their contact numbers for any further help regarding the project and some of the members gave very encouraging compliments. We also got an offer from one exhibiting company to implement our project on robots.
 
Please describe your experience in just three words.
Excitement. Achievement. Opportunities.

‘Talking about the response from students, they were ready for taking the opportunity’
 
-Prof Abhishek Chaudhari, Mentor.
 
How did you find the initial idea and what was your reaction to it?

This idea is basically an outcome conversation of different possibilities to help disabled people. Actually, I represented my college at e-Yantra workshop breaking the barrier. So during the session I found out that a lot of problems are faced by disabled/differently/specially abled people. And the most important thing to solve the problems was empathy to stand in their shoes and feel the actual issues. So as an engineering professor I thought about what we can do for the people? Also the most important thing to mention here is the system or solution made for differently abled people works for all the people living in the society.
 
After thinking over the point and the skills of my student’s team, I thought of making this project. Just creating a prototype that can upgrade the existing product and making it cost efficient. So, I gave the problem of controlling a wheelchair without human physical efforts and without joysticks. This product will not only work for handicapped people but for elderly people also.
 
What was the response from the students to your guidance and the deliberations that followed?
Talking about the response from students, they were ready for taking the opportunity. As I already assessed their skills they were happy to solve the real world problem. I guided them at regular intervals. We had a meeting or two every week. I talk to them to make the system simple and general function. Reducing the redundancy, reducing latency and making the system robust were some of the key points to be worked on.
 
Their deliberation was at the level that every possibility for implementation was tested and experimented a number of times. Selection of microcontroller, selection of battery, transmitting and receiving module were discussed in very detail that shows deliberation and motivation of the team. Finally all the efforts paid off with the result of the competition.
 
How does the college encourage and inspire students to go beyond theory and experiment with projects?

Our college always promotes project-based learning since the learning outcome is more visible with this method of studying. In our institute we provide the facility to students to use the Lab facility beyond the lecture hours. Also different initiatives like Tinkerer’s Lab and Technical events nurture the students to improve their skills. In our department we review the project made by students and give them proper direction to proceed with the project, in this process not only mentors but other faculty were also involved. This process of our department really helped us in thinking holistically and thinking from different points of view. To mention specifically about inspiring the students to go beyond theory, we organise the project exhibition within the department so that students can improve their communication skills and other students will gain some knowledge.
 
Please describe your experience in just three words.
Overjoyed. Pleased. Accomplished.