A hexa-copter on display at Dipex ’17. Express A hexa-copter on display at Dipex ’17. Express All roads, it seems, are leading to HA Grounds in Pimpri-Chinchwad, where hundreds of students, among others, are thronging to get a glimpse of the innovative ideas and projects put on display at Dipex 2017. The state-level project, Dipex 2017, is an exhibition-cum-competition for the students of engineering, agriculture and PG science courses. The four-day event was inaugurated by V V Parlikar, director, research and development establishment, DRDO, on Friday and will end on Monday. The exhibition was jointly organised by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and Srijan. Professor Sarita Balshetwar, convenor of the technical festival, said as many as 111 colleges, from across Maharashtra and Goa, are participating in the exhibition. “The figure of participating students is over 1,000,” she said. Over 20,000 people, mainly students, visited the exhibition. While visitors were seen enthusiastically inquiring about the conception and implementation of the projects, students did not seem one bit tired or bored explaining the nitty gritties and the novelty of their projects. “Our project is innovative, cost saver and environment-friendly,” said a student. It seems, students have attempted to present an all-encompassing package that would benefit all sections of the society, as most stall holders echoed these same qualities for their projects. Be it green cutters for farmers or others interested in gardening, ACs during rising temperature, third-eye vision to help the visually-challenged, incubators for the newborns or an advance version of unmanned aerial vehicles, automatic bridge wreckage monitoring or a wheelchair that can move without assistance, all the projects bowled the visitors over. Among the novel projects on display, the favourite was the hexa copter — an advanced version of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. “Generally, the multirotors are designed for the sole purpose of aerial photography. They are available in the market between the ranges of Rs 1 and Rs 2 lakh. Most of the UAVs are used for photography. It is a single-purpose application. The carrying capacity of UAV is very less. The biggest limitation is the absence of propeller guards, which can harm people. If it hits any object, the propellers break and the whole system is destroyed,” said Rajas Wadekar and Susmit Deshpande, students of ABMSP’s Anantrao Pawar College of Engineering and Research, Parvati. Focussing of these shortcomings, Rajas added, “We designed a hexa copter, which has propeller guards, 1,500-gram payload and huge carrying capacity. Even if it hits the wall or any object, it does not harm anybody and the system does not damage. The carrying capacity is such that it can lift up to 1,500-2,000 grams… Each pair of the motors are overlapped with each other. Overlapping section helps in increasing the thrust up to 30-40 per cent.” Akash Sagari and Pratik Mundada said, “We have used Aluminium (high strength and low weight) for the drone. This advanced version of drone was built mainly for medical and agricultural purposes. In emergencies, when ambulances/doctors cannot reach on time, we can send a drone with a medical kit and the prescription. This would save many life. For agricultural purposes: attaching nozzles below the drone for spraying, can save time and energy of farmers. Different attachments can be mounted for different applications.” The estimated cost for the UAV is Rs 60,000. Amit Padwalkar, another student of the group, said, “We have won the first prize in Anveshan National Level Research Project Competition 2017 West Zone. We have filed a patent on it as well.” The students worked under the guidance of Professor Ganesh Kondhalkar. Another interesting project was put up by the students of Deogiri Institute of Engineering and Management Studies, Aurangabad. They have come up with a ‘Smart City Bin’. “Our project will help civic officials in knowing if a bin is overflowing. They will immediately get a message on their cellphones, which will help them get it cleared on time,” said a student. Yet another interesting project was by the students of IIIT-Pune. They have came up with a wheelchair for the physically-challenged that can move without assistance. “It has low-voltage supply, is low in cost and has small three-axis wireless system to control the wheelchair, using Arduino,” said a student from the group. For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App now

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