The Hindu Business Line : Creative minds await corporate sponsorship

THE Aibo robotic dogs that can play soccer seem to have fired the imagination of the engineering students in the city. A festival, Robotsav, has begun showcasing the various facets of artificial intelligence.

Some of the robots on display include fire-fighting robot, voice-operated robot, sacrificial robot and the material-sensing robot.These robots are the `brain-child' of the students and have not been showcased elsewhere. On display are more than 50 robotics equipment and automation parts designed and manufactured by engineering students and local industrialists.

Detailing their creation, Mr Rohan Rasane of the Sinhgad College of Engineering, said their robot could help track a user-defined object in all degrees of motion. "Currently, we are tracking it by rotational motion and to and fro movement of the vehicle,'' he said.

A web-mounted camera on the vehicle feeds continuous video into the computer and this is broken into frames and shapes.

The areas of same intensities are then extracted from the image. These are then compared with user-defined object intensities and shapes. If there is a match, the co-ordinates of the object are found out and then the camera and the vehicle move accordingly. If the object is in the top part of the image, the vehicle moves forward since objects that are farther off are usually in the top part of the viewing area. Similarly, if an object is in the bottom area, the vehicle moves back.

The robot's applications include video surveillance, stock tracking and airport surveillance. The robot need not be placed on the ground as is done everywhere and can be mounted on the ceiling in the case of airport surveillance, he said. The model, if commercialised, would cost the customer Rs 5,000.

Another interesting display is that of the sacrificial robot, which can be used for Defence purposes.

The sacrificial robot can be armed with all the equipments and with the touch of a button it can be detonated wherever necessary, sitting within the safety premises. This robot has been designed by the Cummins College. "Slight modification and we are planning to make this robot climb staircase. The principle would be that of a simple jack used to raise vehicles and when the robot is raised a little, it would take a step ahead along with the jack for the next step. This is only an idea generated out our vision for new robots,'' students opine.

Giving an idea of the fire-fighting robo, Mr Sumit Gulati and Mr Gopal Krishna, students of the Bharathi Vidyapeeth Deemed University of Pune, said this could be used in various applications mainly as a spy and small fire-fighting robot. It can be placed at home, office or at workplace. If a fire is detected at home, the robot immediately sends an SMS to the concerned person, who might be at the office or elsewhere. The person, utilising the mobile network can instruct the robot to do the needful and take precautionary measures before the fire brigade arrives. This would include dousing the fire or even resurrecting persons who have inhaled smoke.

It also has the ability to move over small hurdles or rough surfaces, pick and place objects, extinguish small fire and "in case it topples after falling, then it has the ability to come back to its working position.'' With some modifications, it can be used in extreme fire conditions to give information about exact location of things.

It is wireless controlled and has a wireless audio, video camera that helps in controlling the robot. The prototype that has been built has cost the students close to Rs 18,000.

Fire brigades in Pune have shown interest in this robot and they are looking at adding heat and smoke sensors to it.

All these ideas can be commericalised provided the students get the sponsorship and the corporates take an interest in developing these into full-fledged project.

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