KOCHI:
The daily struggle of their physically-challenged friend reaching the classroom made two Manjeri-based school boys think about designing an easy-access wheelchair.
The class XII students, Mohamad Siyad and Mohamad Faisal of Govt. Boys Senior Secondary School, Manjeri, Malapuram have innovated a cost-effective solution for wheelchair-bound people called Wheelchair Assist. The Maker Fest conducted as part of the Kerala Design Week (KDW) 2019 at the Bolgatty Place witnessed similar thought-provoking and interesting ideas by young minds from various parts of the country.
“The idea was to make wheelchair-bound people independent and ensure their utmost safety,” Siyad said, adding that the wheelchair has a special sensor to alert the immediate family members in case of an accident or emergency. It comes with a GPS setting, making it easier to track through an app. “There are automatic wheelchairs available in the market but these are very expensive. But our product can be manufactured for a fraction of the price,” he pointed out.
Kochi-based Vidyodaya School students Veda Venugopal, Mohamad Rehan and Navneet Sajan have created a Smart Flood Detector that can provide real-time water-level data through an app. “With the two consecutive floods in the state, a system like this can help us take timely action. The main objective of this project is to detect rising water levels in rivers and dams and alert the authorities through SMS so that appropriate action is taken,” Venugopal said.
Eighth-class student Abhinandan Prakash of Palghat Lions School, Koppam, Palakkad has a solution to ensure that people throw plastic waste in the bin only. He has come up with a ‘Smart Bin’ that not only processes the plastic waste but also gives incentives to the user.
“The Smart Bin is connected to Radio Frequency (RF) technology. The users will have to show their card that has all the information about them, including the bank account. So, once they put the waste in the Smart Bin, the sensors will automatically detect the weight and accordingly a sum will be credited to their account,” Prakash said.
Gowrishankar P, a class X student of Model Technical Higher Secondary School, Kaprassery, has developed a mobile app-based portable vehicle, called “invader Detector’, that can be used by the armed forces for detecting infiltrations or injured soldiers in difficult terrain. “I came up with the idea after reading about the soldiers getting injured by the avalanche in Siachen. An innovation like this can help us save life in difficult situations. It also can be helpful for border security to curb militant infiltrations,” he said.
Afnan Yusuf, a student from Govt. Boys Senior Secondary School, Manjeri, Malapuram, has designed a security system, called ‘Smart Shelf”, which ensures safety of valuables while 11-year-old Bangalorean Vismay Athrey has developed lego-based motion sensor vehicles.The Maker Fest saw a total of 100 innovators exhibiting their products, and 20 of them were school students shortlisted through an application process. Three students and a teacher are to be awarded a fully-paid Dubai trip.
