Tech Challenge for School Students at IITKGP on Foundation Day : Campus Karma

On the occasion of the 67th Foundation Day of IIT Kharagpur, the Institute organized an outreach event for students from grades IX-XII. One 150 students from 5 schools participated in this event along with their teachers. Several programs were organized during this daylong event at the IIT Kharagpur campus on August 18, 2017. While St. Lawrence High School and RK Mission Vidyalaya participated from Kolkata, three schools participated from Kharagpur, viz. Kendriya Vidyalaya and DAV Model School from the IIT Kharagpur campus and St. Agnes from Kharagpur town.

Students received hands-on training of registration for the National Digital Library, India’s largest electronic repository, which has now more one crore resources including thousands of books indexed for school students both academics and fiction. The students attended a live demonstration at the Product Analytics and Modelling Lab (PAM Lab) at the Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship. The activity elicited interest as they observed how to reverse engineer a part, make improvements through design modifications, re-engineer and generate a prototype that can be used to test the new design. The students also visited the Science and Technology Museum and Exploration Centre and the Centre for Research Facility at IIT Kharagpur.

The Students International Relations Cell organized a brainstorming session for the students. The session i-Challenge involve Product designing ideation based on the themes Healthcare, Green transport vehicle, Innovation and infrastructure, Artificial intelligence and Space technology. The students who were divided into groups of 10 students came up with brilliant ideas which were thereafter judged on the product's feasibility, social impact, economic viability and environmental impact.

Some of the product ideas presented were (1) a hotel/resort that works completely on Artificial Intelligence, (2) a cooling system that works through pipes installed in walls, (3) a train system that runs on biodegradable waste, (4) a healthcare watch that identifies unfamiliar actions of body and reports it to the nearest hospital, (5) an e-pen that converts mechanical energy used in writing to electrical energy, (6) a tea machine that works with turbines along with several other product ideas.

Two teams were declared winners. The first winning team made a product to tackle the occurrence of cancer and destroy cancer cells in the body. The other winners presented a spectacle that could recognize human gestures and identify feelings. On the whole, the young minds put up a brilliant show and left their ideas as sparks of a big upcoming innovation.

Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director of IIT Kharagpur, interacted with students and shared the story of Satyakam, who despite several socially discriminating barriers, succeeded in availing education and gained wisdom from revered teachers. He handed over prizes to the winning team members.

Tech Challenge for School Students at IITKGP on Foundation Day

Comments

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur