Low-Cost, solar-operated obstacle avoidance belt for visually-challenged persons has been developed by a team of students from Bharati Vidyapeeth University’s College of Engineering. The device, which has received good reviews at several national platforms, communicates distance and direction of the obstacle within a range of 1.5 meters to the user through vibration. Digvijay Singh Raghuvanshi, a B-Tech Mechanical engineering student, Isha Dutt, B-Tech (Bio-Medical), and Saif Nazi, B Tech (Electronics), have devised the belt. “Our invention is a wearable belt with three ultrasonic sensors strategically mounted on an innovative mechanism. Each sensor has a field of detection of about 60 degrees and a four- feet range. The mechanism allows a 3-D scan of the environment which is immediately ahead of visually-challenged person. Its demonstration was successful at the Poona School and Home for the Blind,” Raghuvanshi said, whose views were echoed by the other two team members. Elaborating cost-effective features of device, students said they have used cheaper raw materials due to which the device costs lesser than other sensors. Two-working hour rechargeable battery, charge indicators and intelligent power switching between solar and battery are the additional features. Anand Bhalerao, principal of Bharati Vidyapeeth University’s College of Engineering, said the “i-Odan” could address the difficulties faced in day-today navigation by visually-challenged persons. The cost-effectiveness of the device has enhanced its scope for pragmatic use at mass level, he added. The ‘’i-Odan’’ was adjudged as “best project” at competition and exhibition organised by the Indian Institute of Technology, BHU, recently and was also among top finalists during a competition held at the IIT (Bombay) in January 2014. It was also selected and invited as the “Top 20 Ideas of Commercialisation Potential” by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology of Government of India last year.
