It is heartening to know that Assam in the eastern part of the country has a tradition in innovation which dates back to thousands of years ago when silk was locally produced..or for that matter Assam tea was invented by ManiramDewan,an industrialist and tea planter who brought the tea plants from the SingphouTribes near the Assam-Arunachal border(unfortunately Dewan was hanged by the british as he turned out to be threat to their tea business)...
Then,now we read about Dr.Pradeep Sharma and his IITian friends..
We also read about Kanak Gogoi..an Assamese youngster who developed a hybrid car without gears that runs on solar power as well as petrol. It causes minimum pollution. Developed by Kanak Gogoi of Guwahati, Kanso has a 100-cc engine powered by four solar panels generating 320 watts of energy..
Then we hear about Udhav Bharali,who has 40 patents to his name and his pomegranate seeding and such other machines are even exported to Latin and North Americas...
We read about Indrani Medhi,finding a place in the list of fortune trail-blazers..who studied over 400 low-income subjects and spent over 450 hours in Indian slums, Filipino fishing villages, and South African farms and developed a low cost computer...
Great..I hope government of India develops the north-east with fast pace for the benefit of the nation....
Why some of the comments blaming IIT? It just happened that Sarmah had some friends at IIT. He approached them and they helped out. Should they have refused and asked him to go to a low-tech welder for suggestions?- Ashok Shah, Pune
Re: What a SHAME!!!
by Naveen Joseph on Oct 21, 2010 11:56 AM
No offense... just trying to see some positive factors from the news and your comments.
1) The Boston-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology has offered to give the 'Deep Bahan' a design makeover to make it still cheaper and easier to drive. People in the developed countries were now increasingly rooting for environment-friendly rickshaws as a short-distance transport and gave example of Copenhagen which has dedicated lanes for bicycles or rickshaws. Let our IIT's explore these areas also.
2)The Indian Army is the world's second largest army in terms of military personnel, and the largest in terms of active manpower.
3) Lets see the social responsibilities of the human bieng including Police men.
4) Lets also undestand that we have well qualified politicians also in the leadership and also we are seeing lights in education system at some places...
please note, am trying to see the half full glass, not the half empty glass... No offense.
Re: What a SHAME!!!
by Yoni Tantra on Oct 21, 2010 12:00 PM
Agree with you... but than again we have eight million rickshaw-pullers in India. Should not something that makes their deprived lives a little easier, should also be attempted?
Re: Re: What a SHAME!!!
by Naveen Joseph on Oct 21, 2010 12:10 PM
Yes Sir, something that makes deprived lives of all poors, a little easier, should be attempted. liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free. Luke 4.18
a riksha with a shade. dveloped by IIT.. top notch technical institute of India..
what next..
a lantern which has a wiper to clean the blackened glass..
a dustbin which will shout if you are not throwing garbage in it ? world is talking about renewable energy, nano technology, faster communication system a dn we are improving our riksha.. man atlest make one fuel efficient engine for Auto..then will help a lot..
When world is inventing things which are unbelivable.We are publishing a article even it is primitive to iron age era that too a IIT tag to this tubes.India needs to know which area is worth studying.As all our brains are drained in innovation less IT jobs
Re: Shame
by bhagat singh on Oct 21, 2010 09:23 AM
IT is not everything, and the Indian has not inovated anything great in the field of IT. We can make a better life in improving small things around us. And moreover, to come out of iron age IT will not help you, you have to improve on your basic and core sciences.
Re: Re: Shame
by Tejes B on Oct 21, 2010 09:42 AM
You seems to be having great knowledge in the happenings in the field of IT.. please enlighten us on what other fields in the recent times we have seen so much of innovation happening..
Re: Re: Re: Shame
by bhagat singh on Oct 21, 2010 10:40 AM
Please brush your GK or atleast if you google, you will find that we have produced Nobel Laurets in the field of Economoics, Chemistry, Physics etc...
Re: Re: Re: Shame
by bhagat singh on Oct 21, 2010 10:43 AM
There is nothing wrong with IIT to get involve in small things... and no body stopped any science graduates from doing this..
Re: Shame
by Shankar D on Oct 21, 2010 05:09 AM
the world over, they are trying for zero emission transportation... copenhagen has 600,000 bikes in a city of 500,000.. oxford and cambridge in UK and manhattan in NYC have introduced rickshaws.... they have more commonsense than english educated indians
While appreciating the spirit behind the design of this Rickshaw by Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, I want to suggest some modifications for improving the efficiency.
In the bicycle riding there are two forces, vertical and horizontal. In the North Indian design the vertical component force is reduced by having a sloping body. That is why the Rickshaw puller takes about half a dozen people in the Rikshaw or10 to 12 school children!.
The present design has flat body. It entails more strain on the Rikshaw Puller.
Another drawback is there is a cover on the body to give shelter to the rickshaw puller from Sun and Rain. Simple commonsense and aerodynamics tells us that there will be more air resistance to the rickshaw while moving because of the top.
Earlier some people tried to have a SOLAR PANEL on the top of the rickshaw, but miserably failed because it entails a lot of air resistance. I don't know how IIT Guwahati failed to take into account these simple Principles.
In social science applications more common sense is needed and as much science and technology.
Re: This Rikshaw needs modifications for efficiency
by Shankar D on Oct 21, 2010 05:07 AM
thanks for your insight... the last sentence is so true... regarding aerodynamics, yes, it matters when it is windy... but does it make sense at slow speeds when the wind is normal?
what is ridiculous about the above design is the height...it can be so unstable and wobbly
Re: Re: This Rikshaw needs modifications for efficiency
by bhagat singh on Oct 21, 2010 09:18 AM
For Shankar, before commenting, you have to find out 1. Where is CG point lying (including passenger)? 2.What are forces acting to make it unstable and at what condition ? 3. Is the rigidity or wobblyness is acceptable for the intended purpose of its use ??..
For Dr. Jagdeesh, The rickshaw will move at maximum speed of 20km/hr. You may please find out the drag resistance, before commenting. And in the heavy wind and thunderstorm, how many felllows will ride the rickshaw ??
Re: IIT should change their names to ITI
by accounting master on Oct 21, 2010 02:03 AM
i am wondering how much does this contraption cost, to need a loan
What is the technology involved here ? I have many times thought of welding a couple of rods and putting a roof on my Honda scooter (when I saw beautiful posters of roof covered scooters abroad), just to save myself from the scorching heat. I even wondered why Indian scooters don't have such roof concept.
Why a Technology institute is needed for this non technology thing like a mere roof welded onto a rickshaw using welding rod n iron rods ?
What is the technology involved here ? I have many times thought of welding a couple of rods and putting a roof on my Honda scooter (when I saw beautiful posters of roof covered scooters abroad), just to save myself from the scorching heat. I even wondered why Indian scooters don't have such roof concept.
Why a Technology institute is needed for this non technology thing like a mere roof welded onto a rickshaw using welding rod n iron rods ?
