By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: As the world locked itself behind closed doors to combat Coronavirus, five students of the faculty of engineering and technology of SOA Deemed to be University utilized the time to come up with a remarkable performance to qualify for Level-2 in the Flipkart GRiD 2.0 Robotics Challenge as the only team from Odisha other than IIT and NIT.
The team, which competed with groups from IITs, NITs and premier technical institutes from all over the country, performed brilliantly to carve a niche for itself. It has also qualified for the CISCO Thingqbator Startup Track Program and had been alerted to be ready to enter the market for Drone software, Prof. Sujit Dash, Professor and Head, Corporate Engagement, Training and Placement, at the Institute of Technical Education and Research (ITER), SOA’s faculty of engineering and technology, said.
The group of five undergraduate students of Computer Science of 2021 graduating batch, have come up with remarkable research and development projects focusing on real time industrial and consumer market space, he said.
Jivitesh Debata, Arun Kumar Mohanty, Manosini Dash, Mohammed Azmal and Anshuman Pandia, who constituted the team, felt that they had spent the lock down period in a productive manner as they went ahead with their project—while maintaining social distance— with the support of the university and faculty members.
“Now, if there is any problem that needs a solution in robotics, web-apps or Artificial Intelligence development or even something as simple as a smart bulb, we can deliver as a team from start to end,” Debata said adding “this has been a huge experience we have gained in our career path and lives.”
The team comprises a Drone Pilot who has represented the country at international events, Full Stack Web Development, UI/UX modules and in the area of Artificial Intelligence, Prof. Dash said.
Looking into the new and emerging technologies, the team has been inspired to carry out the job as it was influenced by the academic culture and professional upbringing of the SOA campus, Debata said.
“The academic curriculum and learning methodologies pursued at ITER and continuous support of the university management have been a boost and inspiration to all of us,” Azmal, another student, said.
The team members also collaborated with talents from Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering to give shape to new ideas and innovations. While they joined hands with students of Electrical Engineering to develop Indian made flight-controllers for drones, the collaboration with students of Mechanical Engineering led to development of Ventilation Helmets (in cooperation with IIIT, Bhubaneswar) and one of the best 3-D Printer farms in the state right inside the SOA premises.
“The atmosphere inside the campus here and its stress on self-learning is sufficient to make you motivated which can have a great influence on your career,” Debata said.
