NE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY BUREAU
AHMEDABAD, FEB 28
With an aim to bring out the latent talents of students, Gujarat Technological University and Sal Education Campus jointly organized the two-day GTU Zonal Techfest 2020 – Zone 1 (Ahmedabad), said Prof. Dr. Navin Sheth, Vice-Chancellor of Gujarat Technological University here on Thursday.
Sheth was speaking to the media after the inauguration and said, “The GTU has been organizing tech-fest every year to bring out the latent talents of students studying in its over 500 affiliated colleges, This year, we are organizing this fest in five ones, including GTU Zonal Techfest 2020 – Zone 1 (Ahmedabad) on SAL Education Campus. During this two-day mega event, students will get an opportunity to interact with industrial experts for solving problems of industries, based on the theme of ‘Save the Environment’ from a different perspective through innovative ideas. The best teams from each zone will get a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh and they will compete with the other four zone winners in the finals. The Central Tech-Fest-2020 will be held on March 19 and 20 on the Chandkheda Campus of the GTU. A high-level panel comprising industry experts, academics will handpick the best projects and reward them. Further, the best projects will be referred to the industries department for its research, implementation.”
Chairman of SAL Group and the guest of honour, Dr. Rajendra Shah, stated “The main aim of this event is to provide a platform to the Indian student community to develop and showcase their technical talent and knowledge. More than 300 faculties and students of SAL Education Campus had worked together for the success of this mega event. More than 35 colleges are participating in the Techfest. This time SAL had done online registration for all events and had set an excellent example of ‘Save the Environment’. More than 2,000 registrations were done in Zone 1 GTU- Zonal Techfest.”
When asked about the DRDO’s role in developing defence equipment for the forces, Shah said that had they done well we would not have placed orders with US for high-tech weapons during President Donald Trump’s visit to the country.
Incidentally, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said that our defence exports had crossed Rs 17,000 crore so far and by 2023 it would cross Rs 35,000 crore. Singh was speaking at the inauguration function of the new Light Combat Helicopter Production Hangar at Helicopter Division in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Complex at Bengaluru, Karnataka. He said, in the last five years, India has made significant progress towards manufacturing military equipment indigenously under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Singh commended HAL for being the backbone of the Indian Air Force and meeting the requirements of the Armed Forces.
Dr. Rupesh Vasani Director, SAL Education Campus said “SAL Education Campus is hosting 3rd consecutive GTU Zone Tech Fest of Ahmedabad Zone on February 27-28, 2020. This technical festival consists of 43 events in 8 Broad Categories such as robotics, civil, CE/IT, EC/EE, chemical, mechanical branches in Engineering & pharmacy.”
Solar Dryer for farmers
To help the farmers in doubling the income by 2022 as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, four mechanical department students of Sal Institute of Engineering and Technolgy – Kholiya Vivek, Dave Nirav, Gandhesariya Keval, and Patel Dhruvil – have developed a low-cost solar dryer. This solar dryer will help the farmers to remove the moisture from the harvested fruits and vegetables and keep it fresh unitil it reaches the consumers. This simple machine costs Rs 9,000 only, they said.
Likewise there were many projects meant for helping the farmers like seed sowing machine, soil testing and so on.
Landmine detection and security surveillance vehicle
After observing the death of defence and paramilitary forces in landmine blasts, four students of Sal’s mechatronics department – Navadia Smit, Dhinoja Shubham, Kakadiya Nikunj, and Love Patel – have conceived a ‘GSM & GPS-based Land Mines Detection and Security Surveillance Vehicle’ which will save the precious lives of our forces. Professor Ripal Modi was their mentor.
Smart City Projects
To ease the burden of the administrators of Smart City Projects in Gujarat, students have developed smart traffic management and mall parking solutions using AI and IT; soild waste disposal, sewage treatment, pollution control measures etc.
The main attractions of the tech-fest were Robo Tug of War, Robo cricket, Lazer Warfare 3.0, Sphinx 9.12, Dexter.
