Comments
The companies making the most headlines at the Make in India event could be the large global ones, showcasing their India-centric work, but those that really need admiration are the start-ups, some still in the prototype stage, building extremely relevant and innovative products.
Take for instance, a hybrid walking chair developed by students of IIT-Guwahati.
The chair, meant as a replacement for a wheelchair, allows a physically-impaired person to move about not just on plain floor, but also on uneven surfaces or inclined planes.
Arunjyoti Borgohain, one of the six students behind the project, said: “The terrain in Assam is such that for a person using a wheelchair, it is impossible to move around. Moreover, automated wheelchairs cost at least ₹1.2 lakh and still do not work well on rough surfaces.”
High fliers Borgohain’s chair is able to overcome this challenge at a cost of just ₹60,000. He said the price will come down once they start commercial production. The project had been funded by the Department of Electronics and IT, which invested about ₹94 lakh.
Another project, by IIT-Kanpur researcher Joydeep Bhowmik, uses complex mechanics to imitate movements of a bird to fly a drone. The drone thus created can fly at different altitudes, uses much less battery than conventional ones, and can carry payload of 400 gram for aerial surveillance.
“My father is an engineer and I’ve always had interest in flying objects. With this mechanical bird, governments can carry out surveillance in enemy territory without getting detected by radars,” said Bhowmik.
Several such innovations from different IITs dot the event. However, Make in India is not just about manufacturing hardware but also about creating software and designs.
Strong phone One such company is Bengaluru-based Borqs, which is builds designs for smartphones, tablets and other gadgets that can be used under extreme conditions such as dust, water, heat or cold temperatures.
The company already has multiple clients around the world and is now trying to build designs that can be used in India as well.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.