Pragyan Blog » innovation http://www.pragyan.org/blog Pragyan Blog Mon, 01 Mar 2010 12:47:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 >> Spider Boat! http://www.pragyan.org/blog/2009/01/spider-boat/ http://www.pragyan.org/blog/2009/01/spider-boat/#comments Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:56:36 +0000 Arvind Jayashankar http://www.pragyan.org/blog/?p=136
  • >> A tremendous glimpse of the obvious
  • Less than a fortnight to go
    • ]]>

    Ripped straight outta science fiction, what you see above is the WAM-V or Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel. Capable of travelling up to 5,000 miles and controllable by just two crew members! The WAM-V is powered by twin diesel engines and according to its designers can ‘dance’ over waves. Going by how it looks, I’m pretty sure it can!

    Apparently this thing can be used as a luxury cruiser, emergency response unit or even a passenger ship holding up to 12 people. It doesn’t stop there; because of the way it’s powered, it uses ’significantly less’ fuel than other boats.

    Got anything creative and innovative to share? Use the form on the right panel of the blog to shout and and you may have a chance at winning some exclusive Pragyan ‘09 gear!

    Head over to NIT Trichy this February and dive into the future!

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    1. >> A tremendous glimpse of the obvious
    2. Less than a fortnight to go

    ]]>     http://www.pragyan.org/blog/2009/01/spider-boat/feed/ 0     >> A tremendous glimpse of the obvious http://www.pragyan.org/blog/2009/01/a-tremendous-glimpse-of-the-obvious/ http://www.pragyan.org/blog/2009/01/a-tremendous-glimpse-of-the-obvious/#comments Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:11:28 +0000 Arvind Jayashankar http://www.pragyan.org/blog/?p=129 When people think outside the box, they really do! And that’s exactly what British inventor Josh Silver has done. He’s come up with a game-changer of a product design: water-lensed glasses. The glasses rely on the simple principle that the fatter a lens, the more powerful it becomes. Inside the device’s tough plastic lenses are two clear circular sacs filled with fluid, each of which is connected to a small syringe attached to either arm of the spectacles. The wearer simply needs to adjust a dial on the syringe to add or reduce amount of fluid in the membrane, thus changing the power of the lens. Once you’re happy with the strength of each lens, the membrane is sealed by twisting a small screw, and the syringes removed. The principle is so simple, the team has discovered, that with very little guidance people are perfectly capable of creating glasses to their own prescription.

    You can mass-produce millions of these, rather than manufacturing myriad individual lenses each tuned to a user’s specific vision deficiencies. And while the one-size-fits-all mentality may not fly in developed nations, Silver’s target demographic and goal is to help the hundreds of millions of people in developing countries who suffer from poor eyesight.

    So.. have you been working on product design/development in college? Why not try to make a difference with something creative and innovative! Click on below to read some more.

    The implications of bringing glasses within the reach of poor communities are enormous, says the scientist. Literacy rates improve hugely, fishermen are able to mend their nets, women to weave clothing. During an early field trial, funded by the British government, in Ghana, Silver met a man called Henry Adjei-Mensah, whose sight had deteriorated with age, as all human sight does, and who had been forced to retire as a tailor because he could no longer see to thread the needle of his sewing machine. “So he retires. He was about 35. He could have worked for at least another 20 years. We put these specs on him, and he smiled, and threaded his needle, and sped up with this sewing machine. He can work now. He can see.”

    So far 30,000 of Silver’s specs have been distributed, but more are on the way; his eventual target is 100 million pairs.

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    ]]>     http://www.pragyan.org/blog/2009/01/a-tremendous-glimpse-of-the-obvious/feed/ 0     >> Let’s run ‘em over! http://www.pragyan.org/blog/2008/12/lets-run-em-over/ http://www.pragyan.org/blog/2008/12/lets-run-em-over/#comments Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:25:34 +0000 Arvind Jayashankar http://www.pragyan.org/blog/?p=123 The name says it all. Israeli energy company ‘Innowattech’ has created a new type of road that generates electricity as cars drive on it. Here’s the tech talk:

    The supercharged surface is embedded with piezoelectric crystals, which transform kinetic energy from passing vehicles into an electrical current. With widespread adoption, the technology could feed energy back into the nation’s burgeoning electric vehicle grid, transforming congested roadways into a clean green source of energy.

    The amount of electricity produced isn’t that much (400 kilowatts per kilometer or 645/mi), and there’s no mention on how cost effective it would be. But given the sheer amount of roadways present, it’s an interesting albeit niche approach to generate electricity.

    Don’t you think technology is cool? What do you have to offer? Get over to NIT Trichy between the 12th and 15th of February and dive into the future with Pragyan ‘09!

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