Bengaluru, Apr 13 (DHNS): A robotic instrument to rescue children from borewells also called the Borewell Rescue Robot has caught the attention of engineers and officials at the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum and bureaucrats at the Vidhana Soudha alike.
The instrument is the brainchild of three young engineers – Sharath Babu L (19), Dhanush Kumar A (20) and Giridhara G (20). Still in the sixth semester of diploma in Mechanical Engineering at the APS Polytechnic College, they made the three feet tall and five kg instrument as part of their college practical project at a cost of Rs 12,000.
“The idea struck us when we learnt that since 2006, 34 children in India have died falling into borewells. We wanted to help the society and come up with something unique so we created this,” Dhanush told Deccan Herald.
“Work on the project started two months ago. We displayed it at the Visveswaraya Industrial and Technological Museum exhibition held in March. Everybody appreciated it. We did not win, because the instrument did not function due to technical reasons. Since then, we have received a lot of calls from various government offices in the Vidhana Soudha to see the instrument. We are planning to patent it after our examination. We will then give it the government to rescue children,” Sharath added.
Safety discs
The instrument has two safety discs at the base and head. Two fork-type hands which can stretch and are attached to a cylinder through which the instrument moves up and down. There is also a balloon disc which can inflate up to 12 inches in diameter, under the child. It also comes with a 2.1 mega pixel digital camera with LED lights for night vision and an oxygen cylinder.
Explaining how the robo functions, Dhanush said: “The camera first locates the baby. The forks then punch into the borewell using the motor which is connected to the robo’s upper plate. The robo then drops the balloon under the child through the arms. After it bloats, the arms lift the baby making it sit on the balloon plate holding onto the child for safety. The robot then lifts the baby out of the borewell. The fabricated robo has been tested in a private factory located in Chickpet with dolls.”