Young Geniuses: TR35 Award Winners

Prajwal Kumar: Remote controlled power tiller

A bachelor in electronics and communications from Visveswaraiah Technological
University, Karnataka, Prajwal Kumar specializes in robotics and automation. He
has recently developed a remote controlled system for power tiller. Farmers have
to walk along with the power tiller to control its direction. However, now the
electronics remote control device can enable farmers to operate their power
tillers without even getting into the field. His other inventions include
tree-climbing and harvesting robots, paddy field weeding machine, industrial
inspections robots, and an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).

Dhananjaya Dendukuri: Low-cost medical diagnostics

Dhananjaya Dendukuri, PhD in chemical engineering from Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, has developed a novel microfluidic-chip based platform to perform
low-cost medical diagnostic tests with a focus on immunoassays (protein tests).
The new platform allows samples of blood, urine, saliva, or other body fluids to
be loaded directly on to a plastic microfluidic chip and tested for the presence
of multiple analytes in a few minutes. Dendukuri along with his team has
developed a technology to manufacture the microfluidic chips to circumvent the
problems of loading reagent for multiplexed assays.

Manoj Kumar Mandelia: Wastewater management and power generation

Manoj Kumar Mandelia, a student pursuing integrated MTech from IIT Kharagpur,
has conceived a solution (Locus) to deal with both wastewater management and
producing electricity. Locus is a microbial fuel cell integrated with sewage
treatment systems to treat wastewater and simultaneously generate electricity.
Mandelia heads a team of five people engaged in the Locus project. Locus, which
stands for localized operation of bio-cells using sewage, can achieve chemical
oxygen demand (COD) reduction levels in wastewater to about 60-80%. Locus is
currently a lab scale model of 10 litres and has been tested in the Fermentation
Technology Lab of IIT Kharagpur.

Vishal Gupta: Plugging data security loopholes

Vishal Gupta, founder and CEO of Seclore Technology, has developed the
innovative Seclore FileSecure and Seclore InfoSource, two noted products in the
field of information rights management (IRM) and secure outsourcing. The
information security management solutions provide persistent end-to-end
information protection for secure outsourcing and document usage control.
However, Seclores expertise lies in protecting data post distribution,
irrespective of its location and mode of transfer. Seclore FileSecure is a
document usage rights management solution which allows owners of documents to
control its usage before and even long after the documents have been circulated.

Satyam Trivedi: Intelligent power usage optimization

Satyam Trivedi, a solution architect at Indrion Technologies, Bengaluru, has
developed a solution which gives the power in the hands of the user! For decades
consumers have been paying electricity bills based on centralized reading. The
technology not only prevents users from controlling their usage of electricity
but also fails to encourage optimized use of power. Vidyut, a smart
wireless/switch flash meter, can be plugged into the switch board or integrated
with it. The solution enables users to access their facilitys power consumption
data at a central repository on the Internet.

Indrani Medhi: Text-free UIs for illiterates

A student of design, Indrani Medhi has developed a design process to expand the
impact of technology to those who cant read. She has developed text-free user
interfaces (UIs). These are design guidelines that would allow any first-time
illiterate person, on first contact with a computer, to immediately realize
useful interaction with minimal or no assistance. Medhis applications are based
on a few key principles: extensive use of hand-drawn, semi-abstracted cartoons
with voice annotation in the local language, aggressive mouse-over
functionality, a consistent help feature, and looping full-context video
dramatizing the purpose and mechanism of the application. She has applied these
principles to design four applications: job search for the informal labor
market, health information dissemination, a mobile money transfer system, and an
electronic map.

Kranthi Kiran Vistakula: Exchanging heat as required

Kranthi Kiran Vistakula, a postgraduate in mechanical engineering and technology
policy program from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, founded
Dhama Apparel Innovations in Ahmedabad in 2008. His recent innovation, called
ClimaCon, is a unique technology, which when used in a jacket, can provide
comfort to the user in temperatures ranging from -30C to +50C by maintaining
the body temperature of the user between 18-40C. According to Vistakula, The
jacket weighs 650-700 grams and is probably the lightest apparel in the world.
Vistakulas technology can even be applied to other apparels as well as areas
such as infant incubators and cooling large spaces such as auditoriums. The
jacket can be worn and carried around like a normal jacket with up to eight
hours of performance on a single charge of batteries. It can also be cleaned and
cared for like normal jackets. Dhamas product team is also working closely with
the army to develop a solution for heating/cooling the missiles which will
increase the performance and reduce various tangible and intangible costs
incurred by the army.

Aravind Narayan: Cleaner coolant recovery

Aravind Narayan, a mechanical engineer and founder of Pure Tech India, a
knowledge based start-up, has developed a coolant recovery system (CRS).
Coolants are widely used in most of the machine tools for cooling and
lubrication. During the course of operation, the coolant gets contaminated with
tramp oil (all lubricating oils), dust, and bacterial contamination. These
contaminants not only cause unhealthy work environments, but also become
environment hazards on disposal. Existing technologies such as belt skimming,
paper band filtration, and biocide dosing offer piecemeal solutions. Narayans
CRS technology can extract the oil for reuse and offers a comprehensive
solution. He has also developed an innovative technology of acid recovery using
diffusion analysis equipment (Dialyser). The Dialyser recovers pure pickling
acid from waste acid. Narayan has been associated with a number of clean
technology initiatives over the past ten years.

Shashikant Suryanarayana: Steer-by-wire vehicle

Shashikant Suryanarayanan, the founder and chairman of SEDEMAC Mechatronics and
also an assistant professor with the department of mechanical engineering, IIT
Bombay, led the development of Indias first steer-by-wire vehicle. The by-wire
systems, which replaces traditional mechanical complexity with less complex and
more versatile mechatronic solutions are increasingly popular in the automotive
industry. The steer-by-wire system developed by Suryanarayanan offers
substantially improved driving experience, reduction of under-the-hood space
constraints, and realization of the much improved vehicle control. The defining
feature of steer-by-wire is the absence of mechanical linkages between the
drivers hand wheel and the steered road-wheels. A Mahindra Scorpio was
retro-fitted with a steer-by-wire system with a unique multiple-actuator
configuration. In the system developed, each of the front wheels are steered
independent of each other. This allows for compensation of coupling effect
between different motions of the vehicle leading to improved vehicle handling.