In a major achievement, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur has recently launched the 4th generation Public Bicycle sharing system including a smart electro-mechanical IOT module for locking bicycles and its software. The integrated hardware, software and Firmware has been developed for a fully automatic bicycle lock and a cloud-based sharing system which is freely available on a subscription basis.
The technology has completely been made in India and can be set up by individuals without specialised equipment and personnel. The PUBBS enables a smart and hassle free public bicycle sharing system that fasters biclying for a sustainable future.
The system features a GSM/GPRS/GPS Manual lock with GPS location tracking, theft detection with GPS, energy efficient hardware design and enhanced battery life. It also features efficient locking and unlocking with robotic hardware driver.
"PUBBS is the first Make in India smart lock for bicycle/e-bike sharing system. Currently, we have manufactured our first batch of smart locks (Bluetooth based). We will make the system available free of charge initially for a few weeks and then make it available at a minor charge which will be fixed," said Prof VK Tiwari.
The PI of the project, Prof Debapratim Pandit, on the other hand claimed that the product will enhance last mile connectivity, reduce travel time and green house gas emmissions.
"Multiple variants of the product have created including Blooth based, GSM-GPS based, Semi-automatic and Fully-automatic. The product offers extensive customization options based on product and operator requirements. The product has the potential to promote entrepreneurship where the rental/sharing system can be deployed using our cloud-based services," said Prof Pandit.
City Future Research group of the Architecture & Regional Planning at IIT Kharagpur has also developed PUBBS Transit v2.0, India's first Integrated Planning and Operation Software for Bus Transit Operators.