What’s common between ‘a glove enabling real-time communication for deafblind individuals’, ‘a device that reduces complications in tooth extraction’, ‘a pain-relief instrument that alleviates muscle spasms through air compression’, and ‘a multidrug injector that ensures precise medicine dosing’?

All these ‘inventions’ – by engineering and design colleges students from across India – were recognised as among India’s best during the fifth edition of Invention Factory concluded on Sunday.

A collaborative initiative between Maker Bhavan Foundation (MBF), IIT Gandhinagar, IIT Bombay and IIT Jammu, Invention Factory is an intensive six-week summer programme in which students from science, engineering and design institutes work in teams to prototype, pitch and patent their inventions. “The goal is to foster innovation and creativity amongst students, resulting in exciting new solutions to real-world problems,” Prof Manoj Gaur, director, IIT Jammu, told FE. “This year it was conducted at these three IITs, and the top three ‘best inventions’ at each IIT received a financial incentive. Every participating team has the opportunity to file a provisional patent application for their prototype in both India and the US. This year, participants will file 30 provisional patent applications, and the programme protects inventions for one year.”

Winners

IIT Gandhinagar: Two inventions won the first price at the Invention Factory held in IIT Gandhinagar.

  1. A groundbreaking glove enabling real-time communication for deafblind individuals, developed by Nageshwar Kumar and Chaitanya Tandon from IIT Jammu.
  2. A device that significantly reduces complications in tooth extraction, developed by Stavan Mehta from IIT Bombay and Kritika Patidar from IIT Jammu.
    IIT Bombay: A therapeutic pain-relief device that can alleviate muscle spasms through pulsating pressure using air compression, developed Ishan Agarwal from IIT Gandhinagar and Vrushti Shah from Nirma University, Ahmedabad, won the top prize at the Invention Factory held in IIT Bombay.
    IIT Jammu: A multidrug injector that mixes and injects two fluids instantly while ensuring precise dosing won the top honours at the Invention Factory in IIT Jammu. It has been developed by Varun Manoj Rawat from NIT Trichy and Khushboo Kanwar Rathore from IIT Jammu.

Previous inventions

Some exciting inventions have emerged from the Invention Factory previously. These are:

– A smart walking stick for the visually impaired (equipped with ultrasonic sensors and haptic feedback);
– Ecofriendly air-conditioner (which uses water evaporation instead of harmful refrigerants);
– Portable solar-powered water purifier (ideal for rural areas with limited access to clean water);
– Smart helmet for construction workers (includes sensors to detect hazardous gases, impact and fatigue).


“Invention Factory offers engineering and design students an opportunity to identify significant problems and create patentable solutions,” added Prof Madhu Vadali of IIT Gandhinagar, who is also the professor-in-charge of Invention Factory.
“While not all inventions are market-ready and may or may not be developed further, participating in this programme gives students lessons on problem identification, solution design, prototype testing, and most importantly patent law, which is usually not covered in their regular curriculum,” added Prof Gaur. “To make India a developed economy by 2047, we need many more such programmes, at a much larger scale, and with far more participation. The good thing is that students are taking a lot of interest in entrepreneurship, taking a lot of risk – in addition to their classroom studies.”