Next time when you visit the IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP) campus in Chennai, be prepared to be welcomed by an autonomous wheelchair vehicle that can take you around the campus, offer virtual guidance of the facility, interact with you in multiple languages, understand your sign languages or even order you a cup of tea.

The autonomous Wheelchair Vehicle (AWCV) is among the two futuristic technologies that were developed by 50 students from as part of a ‘Summer project’ organised by IITMRP in partnership with Maxelerator Foundation, a Madurai-based accelerator for tech start-ups. 

Addressing a press conference, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President, IITMRP & Incubation Cell, said over a period 11-weeks, 50 students from eight partner institutes across Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchengode, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, worked on these two ambitious projects. Fifty per cent of students were women. They were supported by 25 project leads, 10 faculty members and other senior technologists. They were joined by 40 engineers from Maxelerator Foundation.

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Jhunjhunwala said the idea of the Summer Camp is to throw challenges at students as young as 19-22 years and help them build innovative technologies to address some of the major challenges faced by the country. “Impossible is possible” was the focus of the theme.

Innovations

The AWCV is fitted with a 10-inch tablet on the left for interactive options and a joystick controller on the right for navigation. The wheel chair is powered with real-time sensing, localisation, routing (both indoors and outdoors), AI-powered language translation to name a few. It was developed with a primary focus on geriatrics and those with mobility limitations.

Jhunjhunwala said the wheelchair itself is an integration of a range of technical components into a single vehicle such as voice and video interface in Indian languages, computer-controlled motion, server control, communications, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors, Inertial Measurement Unit.

“AWCV is to showcase so many technologies that can be integrated. At least 10 Startups can be born or new products can be made from this single project,” he noted. 

The second innovation that was on display was High Throughput Autonomous Sustainable Human Transportation for India’s Next Century (HASHTIC), a small prototype of air conditioned Pods that can transport humans at high speed in dedicated railway-like tracks. 

Jhunjhunwala said the HASHTIC can be a sustainable alternative transportation solution for the country for the next 50-75 years. He said the energy efficient transportation system can take people from home to office in just 20 minutes in a city like Chennai. “The HASHTIC project needs little more effort and serious work for next one year to take it to commercialisation. At that time, we need government interfaces,” he added. 

Jhunjhunwala said, next year 500 students will be involved in the summer projects to focus on more challenges.

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