Unique projects displayed at TechTop 2012

>>The All-India Engineering Students’ Project competition, TechTop-2012, which began on Technopark campus on Wednesday, has a number of unique projects. Jointly organised by Technopark and Degree Controls Inc, the seventh edition of TechTop-2012 began on Wednesday. The exhibition of projects will be held on Thursday and Friday.

Three teams from IIT Delhi are participating for the first time with AutoCom – an automatic brain tumour detector, a portable Braille reader and automatic water segregator. Five girl students from Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women, Tamil Nadu, have brought an ‘e-nose’ for the determination of fruit ripeness.

 Interestingly, projects on waste management and health equipment top the list. Two teams from Amrita School of Engineering are presenting a plastic-sorter and ‘Upaya’, an automated waste-sorter. A project on municipal waste water treatment system, bioreactor for decolourisation of textile dye effluents etc also find a space in the shortlist.

 Among the health-related equipment, the list of projects includes equipment for detection of obstructive sleep apnea, wheeled robot for assisting elders and physically challenged, a portable communication aid for speech and hearing impaired, low-cost subcutaneous vein detection etc.

 The engineering students have presented some environment-friendly projects such as ‘cementless concrete’, ‘green server’, ‘anti-greenhouse kit’ etc. Other interesting projects include low-cost tsunami detector, a multi-security system for safe driving, communication device for deaf and dumb, mosquito trap, motion replicator robot etc.

 ` one lakh is the prize money for the most innovative, socially relevant and commercially exploitable project. There is a special award for best business proposal and best all-girl team.

 The organisers received as many as 138 projects from nine states across the country. Of these, only 54 projects were short-listed for the competition. A technical committee headed by Prof V K Damodaran will evaluate the presentations.

 The projects which fetched the prizes in the past are low-cost pepper separator (2011), production of Carbon nanotubes from exhaust pipes in industries (2010), ‘Chakshuyaan’, a radio controlled VTOL aircraft (2009) and effluent treatment plant (2008).