February 25, 2010
School of Engineering, Amritapuri
 

IEEE student members of the Amrita School of Engineering won the first and second prizes at the “Humanitarian Technology Challenge Student Poster Competition”, conducted as part of International Conference on Humanitarian Technology Challenges of the 21st Century.
 

The competition was intended to generate innovative ideas in young engineers of tomorrow. One of its stated objectives was to build a generation of engineers, who can innovate, inspire and execute technologies that can help the vulnerable sections of humanity.
 

S6 ECE students, Hareesh S, Navneeth K, Akash P and Vivek Vijayan won the first prize that included a cash award of Rs. 5000/- and a certificate of appreciation. The students’ poster depicted a Robotic Coconut Tree Climber.
 

A robot that could climb and pluck coconuts, this was a simple and efficient device that could be operated even by an uneducated person. The students built this device using the microcontroller PIC16F877A.
 

An expandable shaft mounted on a top and bottom supporter climbed up and down coconut trees. Using a camera and display system, the user could identify and locate the coconuts to be plucked. The robotic hand with the cutter could be manipulated using a joystick on a remote.
 

Ramesh N Nair and Sai P Manoj, S4 ECE students, were awarded the second prize, a cash award of Rs. 3000/- and a certificate of appreciation, for their Wireless Vehicular Accident Detection and Reporting System.
 

The student team had suggested a method to intelligently detect an accident at any place and time and report the same to a nearby service provider, who could use this information to arrange for an ambulance and also inform the police.
 

The system was meant to be placed in vehicles. Accidents would be detected using sensors. Sensor output was monitored and processed by the PIC16F877A microcontroller. An RF transmitter transmitted this information to the nearby service provider.
 

Both these student projects were completed with the guidance of Br. Rajesh Kannan, IEEE SB Counselor. In addition to these two teams, a third Amrita team also made it to the final list; their poster depicted an Anti Mobile Theft Bluetooth Enabled Card.
 

“83 entries were received from all over Kerala,” the winning students explained. “All 3 teams from the Amrita School of Engineering made it to the final 10. All these posters were displayed during the conference in Trivandrum.”
 

The student ideas and projects will be passed on to NGOs working in the field. Among those in attendance at the conference, were Dr. Richard J Gowen, President, IEEE Foundation, Dr. John Vig, 2009 IEEE President, Dr. Janina Mazierska, IEEE Region 10 and Ms. Helene Hoi Ying Fung, IEEE R10 Gold.