Student projects in agriculture, energy, water and environment, manufacturing and technology and infrastructure took the centre stage at Sai Ram Engineering College as part of the A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Innovation Ecosystem Awards.

The event seeks to identify the three best innovative contributions in each stream towards promoting application and analytical thought.

‘Will boost research’

“While the number of engineers passing out of colleges in Tamil Nadu has greatly increased over the last few years, there is a need for institutions to expand their horizons and encourage more than just academics. We hope that by encouraging them to innovate, research and development will get a boost,” said Saiprakash Leo Muthu, CEO of the Sairam Group of institutions.

Among the innovations on display, a team of students from Rajalakshmi Engineering College had come up with an IOT-based smart irrigation system using embedded development. “There are sensors on the agricultural field which detect when it needs to be irrigated and when the system can be turned off. This will help the farmer conserve water. The system will be operated by a smart phone app with the farmer. It is our contribution as engineers to farmers to help them have an automated system in place,” said N. Madhumitha, a student from the college.

Students of the Sandip Institute of Technology and Research Centre, Nashik, spoke about their innovation, a WSN-based infrastructural health monitoring and audit system, which would seek to shift the focus from manual auditing of public infrastructure such as bridges and roads towards electronic systems.

Of the 100 projects that were on display, three in each stream from agriculture, energy, water and environment, manufacturing and technology and infrastructure will be awarded cash prizes.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – April 11th, 2017