- A quadcopter drone to monitor animals in forests.
- A robotic trolley that can detect obstacles and drive around them using artificial intelligence.
- A thermal power grid that can actively monitor the amount of electricity generated and consumed in real time.
Students from various tech colleges across the city put up an expo of these and other models at the Innovacion 2023, a tech fest hosted by the Institute of Engineering and Management (IEM) on its Sector V campus in Salt Lake.
The three-day tech fest, which ended on Sunday, was attended by more than 4,000 students. Apart from the exhibition, events such as Coding, Gaming, Hackathons, Entrepreneurship, Robotics Competitions, Poster-making Competitions, Olympiad & Quiz Competitions and Stock Market Prediction were part of the fest.
At the exhibition, Soumanka Sarkar, a student at IEM, had made a drone that is capable of tracking motion and work well in low-light conditions.
“We built this drone, powered by four rotors and equipped with cameras, using very basic equipment that we modified to meet the requirements of agencies working in forests tracking movements of animals. This drone is quite cost effective. We built it at a fraction of the cost of high-end imported drones,” said Sarkar.
Anushka Ganguly and Ahana Choudhury, students of IEM, built a solar-powered water purifier.
“We built this for residents of very remote areas and difficult terrains that lack a steady electricity connection. This purifier works by using solar cells to power a couple of batteries, which in turn power motors and the filters,” Choudhury said.
The tech fest was inaugurated by Bidhannagar police commissioner Gaurav Sharma and Satyajit Chakrabarti, president of IEM-UEM group, among others.
Chakrabarti said: “We are thrilled to host the 10th annual tech fest and bring together some of the brightest minds in the tech industry. We hope that attendees will leave the event feeling inspired and motivated to pursue their passions in the tech field.”
Smuggling cuffs
A 51-year-old man, Mohammad Shahjahan, was arrested for alleged illegal possession and smuggling of red sandalwood in Bowbazar on Sunday. “Around 180kg of red sandalwood, worth about Rs 25 lakh, was found on him,” said police. Cutting, transporting and possessing sandalwood is illegal.