Every year, Rajasthan’s grasslands see the death of birds due to their collision with high-voltage transmission lines. This poses a threat to several bird species, especially the Great Indian Bustard. But not anymore. The Electronics Club at IIT-Madras, in partnership with the Wildlife Institute of India, has developed a flapper-based ‘bird diverter’ that hangs in transmission wires to change birds’ flight path.

The dynamic movement of the diverter can alert birds from a far off distance. There is a plan to incorporate this in solar-panel-based LEDs set up as an indicator in night or dark conditions, said Sarthak Bora, who was involved in the project.

Helmet for food-delivery partners

That apart, the Electronics Club and the Product Design Club have combined optical engineering with electronics to integrate a navigation application to develop a Heads-Up-Display (HUD) helmet. It will be helpful for food-delivery partners in navigating traffic and enable them to be more focussed on the road.

The product uses a sophisticated optics module that connects wirelessly to an application on users’ phone via Bluetooth for retrieval and projection of the navigational data. Additional features could include widgets for receiving incoming calls and notifications, audio support and more, said Tani Jayanth, who is part of the development team.

The ‘bird diverter’ and a Heads-Up-Display helmet were some of the latest innovations on display at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras Centre For Innovation’s Annual ‘Open House’ event, which showcases students’ innovative tech projects.

The Centre for Innovation is India’s largest student-run 24/7 innovation lab, home to 13 clubs, four competition teams and more than 700 members. It provides a unique platform for the students of IIT-Madras to apply their engineering knowledge and materialise their ideas into products.

Team Abhiyaan, the autonomous navigation team, has transformed an electric golf cart into an autonomous shuttle. Raftar Formula Racing marked a significant new milestone by switching from combustion engines to electric engines this year, in line with the global call for sustainability in the automotive industry.

V Kamakoti, Director, IIT-Madras, said the CFI’s activity provides a platform for young innovators to showcase their creations, and also serves as a great source of inspiration for other young students to innovate.

Prabhu Rajagopal, Faculty Advisor, CFI-IIT Madras, said that nearly 10 per cent of the institute’s students are engaged with CFI. This cuts across the undergraduate-postgraduate divide. Some of the CFI projects that graduated to form successful start-ups include HyperVerge, Planys and Tvasta.

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