Brain-controlled copter to be on display at college festival

Mumbai: Come Friday and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) in Matunga will display a puzzle box named Orbit, which is a copter controlled by the human brain, as part of its annual technology festival Technovanza. During the three-day festival starting on Friday, visitors can watch the brain-controlled copter and use it to move objects around.

The college is bringing the copter to the festival from the US. According to the organisers, it would be operated via a NeuroSky EEG headset or a mobile device through focused concentration, and by maintaining a state of mental relaxation. The organisers said, “The NeuroSky biosensor platform provides a powerful foundation for the development of a variety of applications that promote brain health, such as improved focus, concentration, working memory and mind acuity, relaxation monitoring and improved educational processes.”

Some of the other attractions scheduled for the three days include the only humanoid robot in India with 10 operational fingers. The robot rolls on wheels, shakes hands and introduces itself as ‘Indro’, which is an acronym for ‘India’s Robot’.  There will also be a single-wheel self-balancing e-bike. This e-bike is a close match to the popular RYNO one-wheeled, electric-powered machine, and would help reduce pollution and make personal transportation faster and more enjoyable than before.

The festival is meant to showcase research and development activities being carried out worldwide. The speakers lined up for this year include railway minister Suresh Prabhu, who would address the crowd via video conferencing, social activist Medha Patkar and astrophysicist Jayant V.

Vidhan Agrawal, a VJTI student, said, “Another project that would be displayed is a self-balancing crane that is made with a vision to eliminate the risk of human errors that lead to accidents. It is a completely automatic android-controlled tower crane. With the help of various electronic hardware, it calibrates the position of the counter-weight in such a manner that movement about the pivoted point tends to be zero, and this reduces the chances of the crane toppling.”