The Humanitarian Technology (HuT) Labs of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri campus, got its first US Patent approved. The patent is titled “Method and Apparatus for Wireless Network-Based Control of a Robotic Machine” with the patent number US20190069483.

The inventors of the patent are Dr. Rajesh Kannan Megalingam who heads the HuTs Lab and is an Assistant Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, School of Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, and Dr. P. Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

“We offer this patent at Chancellor Amma’s lotus feet who gave us this idea of building the unmanned robotic coconut tree climber and personally guided us all through these years and still is guiding us. We also thank Sw. Devidas Chaitanya, Director of Amritapuri campus, for his support,” shared Dr. Rajesh.

About the Patent: Method and Apparatus for Wireless Network-Based Control of a Robotic Machine

Abstract: A harvesting system has a climbing unit with a body driven by traction wheels, a control unit, an articulated arm with a cutting implement at an extremity, a video camera focused on the cutting implement, and a computerized portable control station having a display and a user interface with inputs operable to control driving the traction wheels of the climbing unit, the articulation of the articulated arm, and the cutting implement. Video streamed in real-time from the video camera is displayed on the display screen, and a user viewing the video display operates the inputs to position the cutting implement to cut a stem of a fruit or nut in the tree.