People seen interacting with the pookkalam at Technopark, Trivandrum.Fusing art and technology, engineers at Trivandrum, Kerala, gave a unique twist to Onam floral decorations, known as ‘pookkalam’. At the Technopark’s Pookkalam competition 2019, engineers at Mettle Networks, an IP Networking products company, decided to create one with a difference — the “world’s first, fully-floral, interactive Pookkalam”.
The pookkalam visually resembles a QR code, except for its trapezoid geometry. Clicking a picture with an android phone leads to a website. If you proceed, you will be taken to an Onam greetings page where you can enter a lucky draw!
The engineers with their creation.ALSO READ | Onam 2019 Date: When is Onam in 2019?
Decorated with flowers, the pookkalam has digital data encoded in the form of a QR code. However, its trapezoidal shape is a departure from the regular QR code, since the latter has to undergo an optical correction called “inverse perspective” for it to work.
“Only flowers were used to lay this carpet. No salt crystals or chips have been used. It took utmost care to attain the precision that is required for the QR code to work,” informs Manju Thomas, who led the 10-member team.
Abhilash, a team member says, “We tested the concept several times to attain this level of accuracy and we timed the laying process to keep it within the set limit of two hours. It was very challenging.”
