After 16 centres of excellence came up inside the college premises, the students of College of Engineering Roorkee are marching ahead and making themselves abreast with the latest technology. In tune with the ‘Start Up India’ as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the students are now engaged in making their own drones, robots and sensors, which they say would take India to dizzy heights of technology-powered development.
Buoyant over their first success in making a delivery drone in ‘do it yourself’ laboratory of the college which can fly some distance, even cross a river, and drop medicines in villages in case of need, the team of students says that they long to provide cost- effective disaster management to the state.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Utkarsh Rawat, a second year Mechanical Engineering student, said, “I along with two friends Vikyath and Vidit Khari have produced a delivery drone in the ‘do it yourself’ laboratory of the college. Things on flight fascinating me since my childhood, I always craved to make one myself. And the dream came true here under the guidance of my teachers and the chairman of the college. My heart leapt when I saw the drone flying up in the sky. I want the thing we have made to be used in the welfare of the people.
This can work wonders in the hill areas where I have seen people struggling for medicines when they get stuck during flood and the like. We can locate the distressed through GPS and drop medicines through drones.”
The chairman of the college J C Jain said that his vision is to help the youths acquire expertise in technology that can be used in industries. “Such things start from the day one when they join the graduation course.
This being an age of automation, we have chosen 38 fields in which students are being given projects and assignments during their study. Innovations develop while they work on such projects. This is what we are aiming at. Idea is theirs while we provide them with resources,” he said.
Exulted over the success the students achieved while working in the ‘do it yourself’ laboratory, director general of the college, Maj Gen A K Chaturvedi said that the recent collaboration with IBM has enabled them to run smart classes for the students. “Technology advancing apace, we must keep pace with it,” said the retired army officer.