Vishwanathan Sahasranamam, CEO of Forge Accelerator, A Startup Incubator in Coimbatore has done phenomenal work in terms of building an entrepreneurial ecosystem in the city. In recognition of its effort Forge was selected as a Nodal center for the SMART INDIA HACKATHON. The grand finale of biggest open innovation model SMART INDIA HACKATHON 2018 – Hardware Edition [SIHH] is being organized by MHRD & GoI
VISHWANATHAN SAHASRANAMAM, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, FORGE ACCELERATOR: Technologies like IOT, AI, Computing, Drones, Robotics all of these technologies act as tools and these tools helps students solve real world problems which are very unique to India and to solve those problems whatever skills resources, competencies, expertise and mentoring is needed we offer them in Forge.
This work that we’ve done for the past two years have been recognized by MHRD and they have given Forge an opportunity to post this Smart India Hackathon Hardware Edition this week. So we are one among the ten nodal centers that have been selected to host this five day long Hardware Hackathon happening in ten different centers in India.
And this week here in Forge, we’ve been given the theme “Import and Substitution” there are nine teams, nine student teams from different parts of the country who are working on very innovative solutions such as bone conduction headphone, they’re working on a railway track monitoring solution that they’re looking to solve our problems with air pollutions, air monitoring, air quality monitoring and control and several other very important solutions which currently are available only in the form of very expensive, very sophisticated export — imported products for which these guys are building import substitutes.
So we see a lot of potentials in these ideas becoming start-ups and post the Hackathon Forge and several other incubators, funds can work with these student innovators to convert their ideas and stuff.
HACKATHON TEAM INFINITY MEMBER: Hey there we are team “Infinity” and we have made a device whose name is “Eco-saver” and mainly it is a smart device which has the power to make any normally device function as a smart device when attached with it. Okay, so she will tell you why are we making it?
TEAM INFINITY MEMBER: Hey there, we are team “Infinity” and the question arise why are we doing this project? So this is basically for the benefit of the government and all the multinational companies. So what we are basically doing is we are saving the power which will reduce electricity bill. So as we say the power saved the money saved. So this project is basically for all the government institutions and the MNC’s. Thank you.
TEAM INFINITY MEMBER: So here’s how it works? Look into the device we can turn on the device remotely, we can also turn off the device. We can also time the device in different modes like in television, air conditioner, computer or water heater. We can also time the device according to your need. Like in timer mode set it for 5 seconds, done. It will turn on for just five seconds and it will automatically switch it off. You can also monitor the current ratings. Like first you switch on the device. Yeah.
TEAM OPTIMUS MEMBER: Hello everyone. We are team “Optimus” from Chennai Institute of Technology. This is our device it is called as “Air Pollution Monitoring System”. In this device we have connected various sensors and these sensors will calculate various parameters from those parameters we will find out the AQI values are “Air Quality Indexed”. And with that we can say that the pollution in what level? Whether it is high or the environment is healthy or not?
TEAM OPTIMUS MEMBER: Now-a-days the people are not aware about pollution. So they do not know what all the effects they got. Actually the air pollution causes the respiratory problems, sometimes cancer, sometime Asthma to the people. So we recommend that people should be aware of the pollution. So through this — through our “Air Pollution Monitoring System” the people can be known about various pollution in their area, so that they can prevent themselves from getting into any trouble or diseases.
Our target is to produce the systems for the industries or the governments so that they can monitor their own environment and prevent some health effects to the surrounding people. Actually our “Air Pollution Monitoring System” measures various pollutions present in the air, so that with these details the government can provide these details to the people and make sure that people are aware of the pollution so that they can take some preventive measures to not get into troubles like health effects.
TEAM BLAZING DRAGONS MEMBER: Good afternoon. We are the team “Blazing Dragons”. The product that we’re building is Air Quality Monitoring Device. We’re participating in this “Smart India Hackathon” in the “Import and Substitution” category. The problem statement given to us was by the State Government of Tamilnadu. The problem statement is that they need a air quality measuring device.
Presently, it is astonishing fact to know that the air quality inside our home is five times worse than the air quality outside our home. So the primary cause of these – this fact is that in inside due to ventilation problems many dust particles accumulates and more over the gas produced in the kitchen then the construction process in and around our house it all affects and gets accumulated inside the house.
So presently, we can say like no products are being manufactured in India which is connected to IOT based on Cloud services. Every air quality measuring device is a indoor air quality measuring devices are being imported from foreign countries. So what we’re building is that we’re making a – we’re building a product so that it measures the air quality inside our house and sends the data to a cloud and we can see the data in an app.
Our product is not only based on for house old purposes but also for hospitals, in factories where the air quality is worse in inside environments like foundries and printing presses where they use chemicals which may affect the workers who are working there. Why it is important for an industry to measure the air quality in the printing press or foundry is that the workers may get even – exposed to these harmful gases in day to day environment.
So I the workers get any health problems – it will eventually affect the company. So that, so our aim is to make air quality device and install it inside the factory so that it will measure the air quality and it will send the data to our cloud which we provide it to the company so that the company may take preventive measures if the air quality exceeds any particular limit. So by doing this the company may reduce any future health cause for the workers.
TEAM MEMBER: Our project is to develop a cooler system to enhance the power supply and reduce energy loss. So how it is relevant is that now if a break occurs in a line everything is manual. They like treasons have to find whether the break is occurred but by using our product the Chief Engineer can just sit in this office and monitor.
If a line break occurs we have a what do you call that? We have a dashboard where it indicates if the current is not there in a particular line it indicates. So he can know that in this particular street there is no current or something happened and he can send electrician to – send a line man to the same – to that particular place. Otherwise now it is they have to go and check each line where the break has occurred. So this will make a – save a lot of man power and it becomes more efficient and we can reduce energy — the usage of energy and also it’s going to be a little more helpful for the government because the time that it takes now is can be saved – can be minimized. So that’s that relevant of our product. Now we have just developed the pro-to-type for the demonstration.
CULVANTH: Hello everyone my name is Culvanth. We were from Hyderabad from Bewiraj Institute of Technology. We are working on a project called “Air Control Monitoring System” where we measure the amount of gases which are either good or bad in a particular area so that we’ll know the amount of gasses which are there and we can take measurements before going to that area.
So we basically on seven sensors which detects the gases and we created a modules as Z you can deploy the sensors like a plug and play. That is rapid increase in air pollution now a days they are estimated across four billion Air Quality Monitoring Systems by 2022. So we have developed a system where it’s portable effective and user friendly where you can wall mount or you can carry this anywhere.
Basically we have even included a LCD display where if there is a problem with the internet connection you can read the values live with less than one second. And another part you can retrieve the data anywhere through cloud even its fast effective way. It can share the data to a Air Control Monitoring Systems and Boards so that they can take measurements wherein particular area you can plan three so that it reduces the global air pollution creating a effective planet.
TEAM MEMBER: Hi all. We’re from –
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TEAM MEMBER: — from Bhutan and as per the data collected about ten percent off villages are not yet even regaining – only ten percent of electricity is gained by the villages and all the villages and only few of the villages doesn’t even know what this electricity at now. So as the Renewable Energy Resources are depleting now so we have to just move on to the renewable source of energy.
So the only free source what we’re getting is Sun. So we can opt for solar panels and can gain solar energy. So that now as we place a conventional solar panel it will take about large span of area so what is our concept to solve this problem is with a small base of land we can — with a minimum amount of land we can produce lots of solar energy so that it will help for rural as well as urban areas.
And it is the technological growth and we can also even — so that it is a profit for India that without electricity we can now just gain electricity from solar panels.
TEAM BRAMHANSH MEMBER: We are from team “Bramhansh”. Our project is Bone Conduction Technology Based Headphone. In this headphone there are some unique features like – it is placed over the cheek bone that’s why if the ears are open it can be used in the application area like military – for the military purpose, for general public, for medical purpose like for conducting hearing loss.
So it is placed here even if you are blocking the ear, you can hear the voice too. So this is our Version I. And we’re making another version which is very close to the product. Our plan is to make it as a product that’s where we’re going for technical specifications and we are going to take feedback from the people’s by distributing it.
Meanwhile, we will do – we will measure the technical specification but we’re searching for the funds because it requires lots of efforts to have at least off technical measurements. So if we are going to get – if we’re getting any opportunities after this then we – our plan is to go beyond that level to manufacture this and make a company.
