Inventive trio
The physically challenged, especially those confined to wheelchairs, face enormous manoeuvrability problems and bodily discomfort, which are compounded if a person is paralysed. Three bright students — Vijay Ramnath, R. Christopher and G. Anil — in their third year of electrical and electronics engineering at the B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Engineering College in Vandalur, Chennai, have come up with an ingenious solution to make life easier for paralysed people confined to wheelchairs. According to them, the electrooculogram (EOG) signals generated by the eyeball movements of an occupant, can guide the motion of a wheelchair.This marvellous high-potential invention originated in a technical paper titled ‘Electrooculogram based telemetry instrumentation and its applications for severely paralysed patients’ and was presented at Cognizance 2006, a national inter-collegiate contest held this year at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee.
"There are many options available for wheelchair control but none of them help the severely paralysed. So we decided to develop a digital signal processing (DSP)-based wheelchair control metho-dology under which two pairs of electrodes are fixed above, below and the sides of a user’s eye. The electrodes process electrical signals from the retina which vary according to the eyeball movement and guide the motion of the wheelchair," says Christopher.
"The distinguishing feature of our wheelchair is that it eliminates the need for muscular input. The only modification required is to replace the joystick with electrooculogram signals. Moreover, our invention is very affordable," says Ramnath who will present the technical paper at a student conference in Beijing next month.
The invention, however requires further fine-tuning and sophistication. "The eyeball driven control in our proposed wheelchair is indeterminate, and if a paralysed patient is distracted for some reason, the wheelchair may move in the wrong direction. So we need to look into the circuit component and find a way to build a safeguard against this," says Anil.
While Christopher and Ramnath plan to sign up with software companies after graduation, Anil wants to pursue an MS degree at an American university. Meanwhile they are busy building a prototype based on their acclaimed project paper.
Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)
Ishita Chaudhary
Ishita Chaudhary (21), director of the Delhi-based Youth Parliament (YP — estb. 2002) which debates and discusses youth issues, takes pains to avoid being stereotyped as a social worker. "The Youth Parliament is for youth empowerment and their involve-ment in the vital socio-economic, cultural and environmental issues confronting the country. The idea is to create a forum for youth to discover and enhance their self worth, and apply themselves to societal development," says Chaudhary, an alumna of Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) who did a brief stint with Charities Aid Foundation.
Ishita made up her mind to work in the voluntary sector while still in school after a visit to Tilonia, Rajasthan where she met the famous Bunker Roy, promoter of the Barefoot College. "The college’s night school and the problem-solving education imparted to students made a deep impact on my mind," she recalls. Later while studying at LSR, she was invited to speculate upon the impact of the Gujarat communal riots of 2004 at CII’s annual convention on social and ethical breakdown. "At the end of my speech, I wondered if we could establish an effective platform to discuss societal problems. With Bunker Roy’s help, I teamed up with two of my classmates to start the Youth Parliament," she recalls.
Crucial support for the Youth Parliament idea came from the management of Delhi’s India Habitat Centre (IHC), a premier meeting point for public engagements in the national capital. Under a facilitating agreement, every month the centre hosts at least one YP programme. Arshiya Sethi, creative head for culture and entertainment at IHC conceptualised the collaboration between YP and IHC. Thus far more than 2,000 youth between ages 13-29 have participated in events organised by Youth Parliament.
Since it was established four years ago, YP which has an annual budget of Rs.2-3 lakh has enlisted more than 800 volunteers and 11 team coordinators who work with over 30 colleges, schools and NGOs across the country. "We have initiated and implemented over 20 projects on issues ranging from corruption to Right to Information, AIDS and drug abuse," says Ishita, who envisages a Youth Parliament at a national level eventually. "We’re definitely working towards that end," she says confidently.
Power to your elbow!
Autar Nehru (New Delhi)