By IANS,
Chennai: What can save a laptop’s hard disc can equally save a human life: This is what Mohit Mittal and Rajan Gupta, students of Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M), have demonstrated with a novel helmet called “Techmet”.
“IBM had come out with a laptop which when dropped would protect its hard disc. We took that concept and developed our Techmet to protect a human’s hard nut,” Mittal, a second year B.Tech student at IIT-M, told IANS.
Outwardly Techmet is like any other normal helmet, but with an electronic brain.
Upon an impact on Techmet and if the force exceeds the threshold limit, the electronic systems fixed inside it would send text messages to predetermined numbers.
In case of accidents, this system would help the victim avail medical help at the earliest.
Techmet would be showcased in the 11th edition of IIT-M’s annual technical event “Shaastra-2009”, to be held here Sep 30-Oct 4.
The students have implanted bluetooth, global positioning system (GPS) modules and micro controllers in the Techmet.
Meanwhile, IIT-M dean M. Govardhan said the event would showcase a few other innovative engineering products designed by the students.
The major products among them are “Algiesel” – a fuel made from algae – and “Want to Fly-3” – a plane that flies on its own given the starting and end points.
“iCar”, a car that can detect and avoid road obstructions, “Touch Talk” that assists speech impaired to communicate in easy way and “Be-Bot”, a robot that is capable of doing different functions are some other major products.
According to the organisers, around 2,000 participants from 200 colleges will participate in the event that is expected to attract around 25,000 visitors.