Students win award for ‘pothole warrior’

They designed innovative road filling machine

November 09, 2018 01:09 am | Updated 01:09 am IST - GUNTUR

Students of Crossword School displaying the  pothole filling machine  that won the first runners-up prize in the Young Innovators Programme of IIT, Kharagpur.

Students of Crossword School displaying the pothole filling machine that won the first runners-up prize in the Young Innovators Programme of IIT, Kharagpur.

Potholes are a menace as they not only cause traffic riot but also result in accidents. The patch work to cover them is mostly a manual job. But the students of the Crossword School have designed an innovative product which they named as pothole warrior, an automatic filling machine to repair the roads.

The design has helped them win the first runners up at the Young Innovators’ Program conducted at the IIT Kharagpur on October 27 and 28, said principal Keshava Reddy. More than 2,000 schools sent their ideas of which 24 teams were invited to the IIT campus to present their working models.

Hema Srivani S, Vishnuteja Ch and Sudhamshu G designed the warrior containing a portable wheel barrow which carries the required tar mixture in it. The electronic circuitry needed for the automation is fitted under the wheelbarrow. The circuitry contains ultrasound sensors, arduino micro-controller and servo motor. The sensors will map the dimensions of the pothole. Based on their input, the micro-controller will estimate the volume of the tar-mixture to be dispensed which is automatically controlled by the servo motor fitted to the outlet port. Once the tar is dispensed, a pedal operated roller drum will ram the tar into the hole.

This is the second time that the school got selected for the prestigious Young Innovator’s Program. The management said their curriculum was designed to orient the students towards creative thinking while imparting the new age skills required by the current generation to solve problems around them.

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