The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : This robot can go where humans cannot

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 16, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

This robot can go where humans cannot

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Defusing bombs may not be part of the curriculum, but S. Devadurai and Maria Alen Dioney Biju, students of robotics at St. Joseph's College of Engineering, are working on a robot that can do so.

This robot uses video and audio surveillance to investigate regions where humans cannot enter: atomic research centres; nuclear power plants; places filled with dangerous gases; and battlefields.

With a powerful wireless camera, the robot sends video information to a computer from where the robot's actions are controlled, either while watching live video information or using pre-programmed actions.

The software is built on Java technology, a platform-independent language. "We can control the robot, using any operating system or even the Internet," say Mr. Devadurai and Mr. Biju. The students have refrained from using a micro-controller; instead they have used basic digital devices such as combinational and sequential circuits, which are less expensive to fix during failures.

Bharani Shankar and Vino Xavier Raj, `EEE' students at the same college have joined the numerous experts and researchers in their search for the perfect hybrid electric vehicle.

Their hybrid electric two-wheeler combines both an electric motor and mechanical engine, resulting in twice the fuel economy of a conventional two-wheeler.

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