A drone for quick blood delivery. Boots with sensors for the visually impaired. Water for the crops, from the factory.
A students’ science fest saw several prototypes of what the makers believe would make a better planet.
The 48th Eastern India Science Fair (EISF) at the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum was themed “Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future”.
The exhibits lived up to it.
One of them was a prototype of a drone. It was meant to deliver blood and life-saving medicines in emergency situations, bypassing traffic snarls and bad roads, said makers Samrat Sasmal, Supratim Chandra and Pratik Surai, physics undergraduate students at Vidyasagar College on College Street.
“The model can work when traffic is stalled in urban areas. It can also work in the hills where a landslide has made roads inaccessible. The drone can fly 2km non-stop and carry up to 500gm,” said Chandra.
They have named the model Project Asha.
“Emergency delivery of blood and medicines can save lives. It can instil hope in people,” said Sasmal.
Aryan Vats, 16, from Bagdogra, had designed a boot for people who lack eyesight.
“The shoe is equipped with an AI-powered camera to scan surroundings and send alerts to the user through earphones, using ChatGPT,” said the Class IX student from Army Public School, Bengdubi.
The sensor can detect objects up to 100cm. It also has an SOS button. In case of an emergency, the live location of the person wearing it can be shared with contacts.
“This will make visually impaired people more self-reliant and increase their confidence,” said Vats.
The fair had participants from neighbouring states, too.
A water treatment plant was among the exhibits. It was designed to treat polluted water released from factories and make it fit for agricultural use.
“The system involves cordoning off an area near an industrial zone. The water discharged from the factories will be processed by a series of tanks, one after the other, so that the output can be used in farming,” said Mukesh Marandi, Class IX student at Swami Pranavananda Vidya Mandir in Jharkhand’s Dumka.
More than 100 models and 25 projects by around 350 students were showcased on the BITM premises during the fair, which was held in mid-January.
“This fair is among the biggest shows of innovative science models by students in this part of the country,” said Tarun Das, education officer at BITM.