Indians are known for progressing in the world of technology. Being a third world nation, its commendable growth has earned appraisals from countries worldwide. Below is a comprehensive list of scientific discoveries that have turned the tables for millions of Indians.
Ather e-Scooter S340
India’s Bangalore based start-up company Ather Energy is developing an electric two-wheel scooter – the Ather e-Scooter S340. The futuristic-looking Ather S340 e-scooter is India’s first smart electric scooter featuring an Android-Tablet based Dashboard. With the Android tablet, the rider can view information on power, battery drain, system temperature, distance to the next charge-up and navigation. The tablet can also help track the scooter in case of theft. Ather Energy, which is founded by IIT-Madras alumni Tarun Mehta and Swapnil Jain, is located inside the IIT-Madras campus.
Ather e-Scooter S340 Features:
Ather S340 is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack, which has a life of 50,000 km. Ather engineers have focussed on weight reduction; thereby optimising the weight to improve its efficiency. Ather e-scooter’s size is similar to that of any 100cc scooter in the market. However, Ather e-scooter is 20% lighter than the other scooters in the market. The e-scooter also provides for enough space to store two full-sized helmets.
Ather e-Scooter poles apart because of its performance. The current prototype is able to attain 0-60 in just 11 seconds with a top speed of 75 km/h, as claimed by Ather. The engineers have also been able to reduce the charging time of the e-scooter to a record 1.5 hours, whereas a typical e-scooter in the market takes upto 6 to 8 hours for a full charge. Ather e-scooter consumes only 2.5 units of electricity for total charge-up, as claimed by the company. Although there are preliminary readings, they may improve in the final product when it is ready for the launch.
Ather’s Funding:
Flipkart’s founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal have taken a keen interest in Ather’s e-scooter project. In December 2014, Ather received funding of US $1 million from Flipkart founders, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal. Recently Tiger Global, one of the leading venture capital investment firms, has also provided the US $12 million (Rs. 75.33 Crores approx.) as fresh funding to Ather’s e-scooter project. Ather is planning to offer test rides of S340 from October in Chennai and Bangalore and has provided the sign-up facility for interested people on their website. The launch of e-scooter S340 is scheduled by early 2016 in the cities of Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi.
This would truly revolutionize two-wheeler industry and at the same time reduce pollution and save crores of money spent on gasoline fuels.
Dosamatic
Dosamatic is an automatic Dosa making machine invented by a couple of college students from South India. All you need to do is to put water and Dosa batter in the two containers. Then press a button and forget it. I first read about them in a Rashmi Bansal book, “Arise, Awake”. The students were ready with the idea and the prototype even before graduating from their college.
The Dosamatic is aimed at small and large restaurants and also aims to eliminate skilled labour usually associated with dosa-making.
Sanitary Napkin Incinerator
People chanced to come across this unique invention at an industrial convention. It has been developed by a couple from Vadodara. Sanitary napkins take approximately 500-800 years to decompose in the natural environment. But this Eco-friendly incinerator has been developed by the Bedekar’s making use of clay and concrete.
Shyam Bedekar a successful textile engineer and Swati Bedekar from Vadodara developed this earthen incinerator specifically for the disposal of sanitary napkins. It is very simple to use. One can put the napkin into the incinerator from the lid on the top along with wood or paper. It can be ignited to form ashes which can be collected at the bottom. As it has lids and also water at the lower end rats and other pests can be kept away from it.
A Rechargeable Insect Killer
For people who are facing problems due to the increased infestation of mosquitoes, flies and other insects in their premises, the rechargeable electronic mosquito bat comes across as an excellent solution. The mosquito killer racket incorporates a unique three-layer design that is capable of killing several types of flying insects by passing relatively higher voltage of electric current for a short duration of time on coming in contact with the insect. Thanks to its compact design, the rechargeable mosquito killer racket with a led torch is extremely easy to accommodate making it convenient for you to carry it even when you are travelling outdoors.
Features an Easy-to-Use Mechanism
Implementing an easy-to-use mechanism, the insect killer racket comes with an activation button fitted on the handle that needs to be switched on each time you want to kill an insect. As part of its unique design, this racket comes with a strong grip making it easy to hold it comfortably. Moreover, it comes equipped with an LED torch that helps in improving your visibility especially in an area where the lighting is poor. Equipped with a rechargeable battery, the insect killer racket with LED torch requires a charging time of 8 to 12 hours before being used.
Warning system at unmanned railway crossings
IIT-Kanpur experts develop a warning system to prevent accidents at unmanned level crossings. If everything goes well, accidents at the unmanned level crossings will not happen and precious human lives be saved as IIT Kanpur has developed a warning system which will produce loud sound to alert the people to remain off the tracks.
Why do we need this?
As per Railways High-Level Committee Report, unmanned level crossing accidents result in 59% deaths. The accidents caused due to this reason has only increased
The technology is called ‘Radio Frequency and Wireless Based Warning System‘
How does it work?
The warning system with embedded GPS and RFID (radio frequency identification tag) had been installed in the train and at the unmanned railway crossing during the trial period. The system is such that when the train will be 1500 meters away from the crossing, the warning system will get activated and hooters will blow up giving an indication to the driver that the crossing is fast approaching.
The same thing will happen when the train is just 800 meters away from the track. The flash hooters will stop buzzing when the train crosses 50-metre mark from the crossing.
Noticeable features:
1) Capable to handle a total of 16 trains if spread out on 16 parallel tracks.
2) Even if the GPS stops functioning due to some or other reasons, the RFID will ensure making the warning system work and under no circumstances, the system will fail, making it foolproof.
3) In case of multiple tracks (suppose two trains are crossing each other), the warning system will continue to function and later train will activate the signal to close the warning system (meaning that the hooters will buzz for both the trains and will close when the later train will clear the 50-metre mark).
On the way:
Currently, it’s being tested between Unnao and Sonik railway stations (crossing number 29C) and Lucknow-Sultanpur section (crossing number 189C). After this, the IIT Kanpur team will hand over the design to the Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO) on December 16.