A student entrepreneur from Kerala's Startup Village has won accolades for developing a unique robot, 'Xerobot', at a national-level competition organised by Brahmos Aerospace Private Limited.
Jijo Paul, founder of Startup Village-incubated Resnova Technologies, walked away with the 'Best student Award for Innovative Idea in Science & Technology' at the "Science & Tech Quest 2014" competition, held at the all-India level.
'Xerobot' can be taught to replicate a particular activity by employing process automation. Paul received the award from former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam at a function in New Delhi, a press release from the startup village said.
Paul, who is an engineering student, said he was 'excited' and happy to receive the award.
'Ecosystems like Startup Village encourage students to work on multi-disciplinary industries like robotics, which require skills in computer science, electronics and electrical engineering. We are gearing up to support more students in their final year projects , which are highly relevant to bridge the industry-academia gap" said Sanjay Vijayakumar, Chairman of Startup Village.
Startup Village is conceptualizing training programmes in micro-processor based computing, electronics and robotics and creating the necessary infrastructure through Fablabs that will enable students to learn multi-disciplinary skills through
Do-It-yourself workshops, Pranav Kumar Suresh, Chief Operating Officer of Startup Village, said.
Paul said the robot was undergoing further modification for application in industry with commercial potential. 'Xerobot' can be taught to perform any activity within its degrees of freedom using a controller arm and could then be embedded onto a standalone system. The currently developed model of the robotic palm has the potential to replicate the motions of human fingers.
Paul started this project during his second year B Tech course at Amal Jyothi College, Kanjirapally. It is undergoing further development at the innovation club at Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology where he is pursuing his M Tech.
The project was shortlisted for technology validation at DST Lockheed Martin International Summit.It was also evaluated by the University of Texas at Austin as 'a valid and novel concept with potential application in industry'.
