A Robotic Sandal, Mouseless; (An invisible computer mouse), washing-cum-exercise machine you name it and they have it! Children’s are the soul of this world. On this occasion of children’s day we shall take a look at few such brilliant, young minds from India, whose inventions changed the world.
I do not want to live with problems, I want to solve them,” says M.Tenith Adithyaa, A 15 year-old student who already has 17 inventions under his name that have bagged him many awards and two Guinness World Record attempts. An innovator, a professional coin collector, a software developer, a teacher, a bird tamer and a gamer, Adithyaa has a lot of achievements in his kitty and he makes sure he learns something new every day. He has mastered 35 Computer Applications and 6 Languages.
His invention includes Adjustable Electricity Extension Board, Banana Leaf Preservation Technology and many more. For his contributions at such a young age, Adithyaa has received global recognition including 2 world record attempts, 2 National Awards, 7 Titled Awards, 5 State Awards and many District Awards. He is also a winner of the IGNITE Awards conducted by National Innovation Foundation-India.
Arsh Shah Dilbagi
Arsh Shah Dilbagi, 16-Year-Old Invents A Breath Enabled ‘TALKing’ Device to Help the Speech Impaired; The only Augmentative and Alternative Communication device in the world that uses breath as the way of interaction.
Dilbagi, a student from Delhi, invented TALK, an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Device that helps people with developmental disabilities like Locked-In Syndrome, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Parkinson’s Disease, those with speech impairments like Dysarthia and even Mutes, to communicate in a normal form of speech.
“I wanted to bring about change and develop something that could be used to help mankind. TALK is something I believe in and hope it will change the lives of those who need it,” Dilbagi says.
A 16 year old resident of Mumbai, India calls himself as a “maker”. Angad Daryani, loves developing devices using cutting edge tools available in the market. He says “I’m a part inventor, part entrepreneur, part student, part artist and part public speaker’. His inventions include Mobile Electrocardiogram, Virtual Brailler 3D Printer(s), Solar Powered Boat, Audio Sensitive LED Display and many more.
Susant Pattnaik, 21 year old inventor has 39 patents to his name; among them the first one is a wheelchair that a paralysed person can operate by simply breathing. The second, an anti-theft mechanism developed for cars, a variation of which can also be used for your homes. At the tender age of 21, he has already won multifarious awards, and was among the top winners at the seventh National Grassroots Innovation awards. His inventions solve social problems, makes public living style convenient, economical etc. He has started his journey at the age of 16 and his first invention is Susant’s Breathing Sensor Apparatus for the Disable for which he has got numerous awards and recognitions.
Remya Jose. A 23 year old, is the inventor of the washing-cum-exercise machine that won her a National Award. She invented this when she was 14 years old. Remya Jose from Kerala Sickened by the burden of the tiresome chore of washing clothes every day, she went ahead and invented the washing-cum-exercise machine.
Ajit Narayanan, a 33 year old is the inventor of Avaz, India’s first Augmentative and Alternative Communication device for children with disabilities. This device works by generating speech from limited muscle movements like that from the head or hand, and can be used people with speech disorders such as cerebral palsy, autism, mental retardation, and aphasia.
A Young Global Leader 2013, Pranav Mistry an Indian computer scientist and Inventor, this 33 year old is the head of Think Tank Team and Vice President of Research at Samsung. His research interests include Wearable Computing, Augmented reality, Ubiquitous computing, Gestural interaction, AI, Machine vision, Collective intelligence and Robotics. Mistry is best known for his work on SixthSense. His achievements include:
- Young Global Leader 2013 Award, World Economic Forum
- Young Alumnus Award 2012, IIT Bombay
- 50 Most Creative People of the Year 2010, CREATIVITY 50
- Netexplorateurs of the Year 2010 award, Netexplorateurs Grand Prix 2010, France
- TR35 2009 award, Technology Review
- Invention of the Year 2009 award, Popular Science
- Young Indian Innovator 2009 award, Digit Magazine
- Nominee for Forbes India’s Person of the Year 2009
Alefia Merchant, a 34 year medical student, developed a novel way of screening eye diseases in children under the age of five. Merchant plans on implementing this at a larger scale, and using it to cater the needs of the rural population that cannot afford expensive eye tests.
Four school kids in Thane have designed a robotic sandal that can set off a distress siren if the woman wearing it is being attacked. Team member Siddarth Wani, a class 9 student, says “We wanted the gadget to be something that women won’t forget to carry daily. We thought of lockets and bangles, and then decided to integrate our idea with sandals.” When the sandal, fitted with metal rivets, is hit twice on the ground, it activates a wireless alarm in a small black box which can be carried in a purse. The sandal can also give a mild shock to the attacker and also sets off a recorded voice asking for help.
Purshottam Pachpande, an engineer who guided Siddarth and his friends — Chinmay Jadhav, Chinmay Marathe and Shambhavi Joshi, all 12-14 years-olds — at Children Tech Centre in Thane, says, “They plan to attach bluetooth to the sandal which would automatically send SOS messages to pre-set contact numbers.”
Society needs such help, says IIM-A’s Prof Anil Gupta, executive vice chairperson of the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), Ahmedabad. “It shows that the anxiety has percolated to children too. I am proud of the children who are coming up with such ideas. Our generation didn’t do anything about such issues,” he says. According to Prof Gupta, NIF encourages all kinds of innovative ideas. “The Thane children’s idea seems a sensible one. We are accepting even kite-flying ideas.
Hope this children’s day will provoke us to let the child in us remains alive till our last breath! Wish you all happy children day!
Photo credit: Sandesh Shekhar