The difficulties that students of engineering colleges face have oft been documented. Besides references of outdated syllabi there is also the disturbing trend of students getting projects done from external agencies instead of innovating on their own. This is one issue that Sandheep Vattappara, founder of Etiq Technologies, one of the companies incubated at NIT Calicut’s technology business incubator, is keen on eradicating.
Sandheep and the six-member team at Etiq have come up with a product called OpenLab, which is what he describes as a Project and Product Development Platform. Essentially, it is a circuit board which serves as a one-stop solution that allows students to test out any idea they have, from making a simple LED light up to advanced home security applications. “One prevailing issue that college students face is the lack of a universal interface that allows them to try out their ideas. There are devices available to them that can display outputs to their calculations, but not something that lets them study circuits and apply their knowledge to come up with new innovations,” says the 29-year-old, who hails from Palakkad.
The OpenLab board is a modular setup with removable and replaceable components, industry standard inputs which allow students to connect any device they require to the board for testing, and features three different displays: from a simple seven segment display to a graphical LCD that can be given touchscreen functionality. “The idea is to create a do-it-yourself mindset among students. Since all the functionality is provided in a single piece of hardware, students are limited only by their own imagination. They can try something out, then analyse the board and the circuits that allowed them to perform their experiment. The idea was not to make the board as small and efficient as possible, but to be as open and transparent in design to aid education and experimentation,” says Sandheep.
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The OpenLab team is also working on an online resource guide which will be published on their website, to give users some basic ideas on exploiting the board’s potential, not unlike those build-it kits geared towards children with pamphlets containing samples. Sandheep says the team is also working on designing additional modules for the board which can replace existing ones if required, and will soon have an online store where all possible components are listed, and buyers can customise the ones they want before purchase. The board is a result of the work of over 10 designers and was created over a two-year period, with the components being assembled in Bengaluru.
“Right now, we’re targeting engineering colleges and polytechnics, as having an OpenLab board in their labs can greatly assist students and encourage them to try out their ideas rather than resort to getting projects done through professional outlets for a fee.” Sandheep says that his company is now dedicated to distributing and supporting OpenLab to improve its reach, though he also wants to develop more products that assist students and help them achieve their full potential.
OpenLab is priced at Rs. 58,000 and is currently available for sale directly and through channel partners, though online availability is on the anvil.
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Tech specs
The board features a modular design with individual components mounted separately on different sections. It supports Android devices, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and USB connectivity, features an SD card slot for memory expansion and has a keypad as well as a battery that allows it to maintain a clock. It uses DIP components and is based on a PIC microcontroller. For more details and technical specifications, visit: www.etiq.in/openlab/.