|
Education Plus
Flying high on innovation
DEEPA KURUP, SWETHA M.N.
|
RVCE students take part in U.S. aero design competition
|
— Photos: Sampath Kumar G.P., Murali Kumar K.
Skilled hands:(Top) Anand Holani, Dheeraj Vishwanath, Harshavardhana Tikare. (Bottom) Debolina Sen, Brinda Mehta, Naveen B.L.
With the entire technology sector running the risk of being dubbed the IT back-office of the world, coupled with outdated syllabi and lackadaisical universities, one wonders where the to-be engineer of today stands vis-a-vis innovation and creativity. While core engineering subjects are gaining ground among youngsters opting for engineering, IT still rules the roost.
So, where do future engineers, struggling with mugging theories and passing practical exams in college, see themselves on the road map of innovation in technology?
Have numerous job opportunities and easy growth in the job sector resulted in a decline in the creative spirit of the engineer? Is everyone busy re-inventing the wheel rather than going out there and making a mark of his own?
The Hindu EducationPlus spoke to students to find out what they felt about innovation in technology. We came across a group of six from the R.V. College of Engineering who not only believe in the innovative spirit but have taken the next step by building their own radio-controlled aircraft and participated in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aero Design competition held at Georgia (U.S.) in April.
Having started from scratch and worked out the nitty-gritty of finance, fuel and material, these students speak with passion about the need to innovate, believe in yourself and follow your dream. Here’s what they had to say:
Patience needed
Anand Holani: It wasn’t easy to do. First of all, any innovation and independent thought needs both passion and patience. But it is necessary to nurture such an interest in your subject. It is completely important to have a grasp of the basics and want to apply it to your profession to discover or invent something.
We see that our course does not provide any impetus for that. When we interacted with other participants we found that their courses and syllabi encouraged that kind of thing. It helped students relate what they learn to what they do. That kind of thing inspires you to innovate.
Dheeraj Vishwanath B.: We had to start off with the basics and that’s when we found that to create something you need to have a solid grounding. We read up a lot and out of our own initiative we went to libraries at IISc. and other places. Wanting to innovate means having the determination and going all the way.
Sponsorship
We had no money, so we pooled in a bit and then went out for sponsorships. By working on Vyoma we learnt to design, create a product and even entrepreneurship. All this is not taught in our course but I saw that it is much easier for foreign students to do it since they work on such interesting projects all the time.
Harshavardhana Tikare: Innovation is a rather broad term. Creating something out of nothing needs patience, a lot of time and a very good knowledge bank. Our courses do not foster the spirit of finding out stuff.
Our projects are usually done to gain a few marks and in the process the student loses out on the spirit of discovery. Doing this taught us about much more than designing air planes, we also learnt about marketing our work and convincing people about what we were doing.
Challenging
Debolina Sen: Innovation is important when you are representing your nation in a competition. We needed to make our plane cost effective and innovative. As an engineer it was a very challenging task. It makes us proud that we bagged the 18th position among 40 nations and we being the only Asian country, it means a great deal to show case your talents in front of other countries. Every aspect such as size, instruments, take-off, weight and dimensions needed attention.
This experience has taught us a lot of things. Apart from our bookish knowledge, I think that this opportunity has taught us to put our mental knowledge to practice and that too on a worldwide basis. We were able to learn from our mistakes and we got to know the right method of doing certain things.
Brinda Mehta: Innovation is a critical factor that makes us stand out in a competition. We needed to be different from the others taking part along with us. Considering that we would be awarded on the basis of innovation and design as well, we had to work hard to get the right design.
Learning curve
Many aspects needed to be looked into such as making our model cost effective and efficient and innovativeness lies in our ability to make the same plane cheaper but of good quality. The people that we have met and made friends there, have taught us a lot. We have learnt their ways of engineering and how our ways were better or worse. This knowledge, according to me, is of prime importance.
Naveen B.L.: One of the important qualities that an engineer needs to possess is innovation. In this competition innovation needed to be stressed on.
There were a number of other highly experienced engineers worldwide taking part. Competing with them and their innovation was a challenge.
As an engineer it feels great to have competed with other students and to share their ideas. We were able to learn from them and to look at matters in two ways which would definitely help us as engineers.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Education Plus
|
