Appropriate Green House Technology for Indian Region

High-Tech agriculture, as we understand today, consists of cultivating high value crops in more or less controlled conditions. In technologically advanced countries, use is made of green house in which some of the major climatic factors are controlled, and a system, in which plants are provided with balanced nutrition and adequate water, is given. Several business houses and Indian farmers have installed this system recently.

High-Tech agriculture practiced in technologically advanced countries is exorbitantly costly. Need is to urgently develop a cheaper technique more suited for Indian conditions by means of locally available materials [Like bamboo, bricks, sand, etc] to its maximum.

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Household Paddy Dehusking

As of today, in rural households throughout the country people use the pounding method for dehusking paddy to obtain dehusked rice. However, in this method, people need to cut down the trees for involved tools, thereby depleting the natural wealth and upsetting the ecological balance. Another drawback is that pounding method takes a long time. The product is not uniform and rice grains are often broken. Power operated rice hullers are also available as an alternative. But this is not suited for rural conditions because of high cost of machine and power requirements as well as accessibility issues.

The aim here is to bring out an overall improvement, replacing the traditional method of paddy dehusking, that is acceptable to the rural households so that it can be carried out at house hold level.

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Water Purification Technique for Rural India

Water is an essential resource for existence of life. Water scarcity is a common problem in all areas. In rural India, water scarcity not only brings the problem of unavailability of water but also other health related problems due to impurity in it. This has been a serious issue in past few years.

The aim here is to develop an affordable and effective water purification technique for households in rural India. This system should purify a given quantity of water to basic standards of portable water in a short period of time.

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Rural Chulha and Fuel Improvisation

The primary motivation for a cleaner cooking stoves initiative is reduction in health impacts from indoor air pollution. A national stove contest in China recently highlighted a number of such stoves being sold around the country. Other important co-benefits include improved efficiency of resource use, reduction in time and effort to collect biomass with concomitant social benefits, and climate mitigation from reductions in emissions of Green House Gases (GHGs) and black carbon, a climate warming agent. Therefore we need to develop the cleanest possible cooking stoves. In fact, our broad aspiration should be to deliver a clean cooking experience with biomass as good as with other common options such as LPG.

The aim is here is to develop a Cooking Stove taking into consideration available local fuel, cooking practice and above performance levels.

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Small Capacity Power Generation Unit

Today Electricity has become an integral part of everyone's life. Many operations come to a stand-still in absence of electricity. Rural India is also not very much far from this problem. In most parts of rural India, electricity supply is quite sporadic and there is heavy load shedding in many areas. In addition to this, the electric lines generally get damaged during rainy seasons and storms. It takes numerous days to restore normal supply of electricity hence locals are left devoid of electricity during this period.

The aim here is to design and develop a small capacity power generation alternative for household usage of more than 100W. The prototype should be such that it can be operated and maintained locally. This should be affordable for rural households.

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Innovate and Create

The fields suggested above are just few examples to initiate the thought process and should only be taken as a starting point in the innovation process. The participants are free to choose any field in which they feel the need to innovate and come up with solutions in that field.A pool of ideas, which tries to encompass a few aspects of the rural problems, is listed below.The list given below is not exhaustive and should only be taken as reference.

1. To increase the cultivation, we need to develop an efficient and cheaper irrigation system. The existing irrigation systems, which fulfill our motive, like "Drip irrigation", requite costly for marginal farmers. The aim here is to design an efficient, durable and cheaper irrigation system for marginal farmer in India that can be built up from locally available materials and can be maintained from locally available skills.

2. In case of a Medical urgency, due to undulated roads and terrain with inadequate transport service, it is quite difficult to take a person to nearby hospital. The aim here is to design and develop a quicker, comfortable and cheaper (manual or motorized) ambulance that would improve existing but inefficient practice.

3. In Konkan region of Maharashtra, water scarcity during late winter and summer is one of the major issues of concern. Women, particularly in the rural Konkan, have to travel a long distance to fetch water to fulfill daily domestic water need. They usually carry a load of 25-35 kilograms over a long distance. This activity is associated with heavy drudgery and is responsible for many health related problems viz. neck-ache, backache, mental stress etc. The terrain in the region is mostly undulated. The aim here is to design and develop a manual water fetching system that would reduce manual water fetching load for rural Konkan region, which should be technologically simple and easy to understand with low maintenance cost.

4. One of the districts in Konkan region is Raigad district. Thakur, a tribe in this district is busy with farming growing mostly vegetables, and fruits that grow on vines. They build some wooden structure struts, for the vines to grow and spread, which is obtained by the local forest. Each such vegetable-producer cuts nearly 1000 sticks. Considering the number of such growers, it can be easily visualized how fast the jungles are cut down. The number of these growers will increase as the time passes and so will the number of many faceted problems. There is an immediate need of a step to be taken so that the problem can be checked at the right time.

5. One of the districts in Konkan region is Raigad district. 75% of villagers in this area work on brick-kilns. They work for 6 months in a year, such that a couple (husband & wife) makes about 1.5 lakh bricks during this period. The brick making process is difficult and involves physical labor. On having a look at the logistics of the process, one can find that a brick mould is such that only two bricks can be molded at a time. It is a woman that carries the dry bricks from one place to the kiln. She carries 14 bricks on her head at a time; thus she transfers about 1500 bricks in a day; and so she makes nearly100 trips. On analyzing the problem, we found that the present mechanism is an imperfect use of time and energy. The aim here is to developing a new technique which can reduce to and fro movement and improve the neck breaking job of carrying bricks to a considerable level.

Click Here to download the complete Problem Statement (pdf)

Click Here to download the detailed report of konkan region (pdf)

View the Competition structure

Outline of the Programme

Abstract Stage	August 27th, 2010	To be considered for Mentoraship Stage, registered teams have to submit their abstract before August 27th in the format specified below.
Mentorship Stage	September 15th, 2010 to November 20th, 2010	Mentors will be alloted to shortlisted participants on September 15th. Participants have to submit the progress report of their project every 15 days. A final report with video of working model should be submitted before November 20th.
Deadline for open entries	November 15th, 2010	Last date for registration of open entries as well as international participants. However, the final report and video of working model can be submitted till November 20th.
Result	December 5th, 2010	Declaration of shortlisted candidates for presentation during Techfest 2011.
Improvisation Stage	December 5th, 2010 to January 6th, 2010	Shortlisted participants to improve upon the working prototype of their project and prepare a presentation for the same.
Presentation Stage	January 7th-9th, 2011	Final presentation along with the demonstration of the working prototype.

Abstract Content

Abstract is the basic introduction, which should concisely include following points:

1. Description of the problem to be solved.
2. Description of Concepts, theories or approach involved in the proposed solution.
3. Technical aspect of proposed solution.
   • a. Rough technical specifications and pictorial representations (block diagrams) of the solution.
   • b. Performance estimate of the solution.
   • c. Pros and Cons of your solution.
4. Any other relevant or solution specific information.

Abstract Submission

All submitted abstracts would be screened and the teams will be shortlisted on its basis. Mentors will be allotted to shortlisted teams.
A mentor would be a expert in the field relevant to the subject of abstract. He would be of immense help to improve your solution from an amateur stage into the implementable product. He would enlighten the participants through his immense knowledge and vast experience at each step.

Teams should mail the abstract to utkarsh[at]techfest[dot]org before 23.59 hours on August 27th 2010, with the subject "Prayaas: Utkarsh Abstarct Reg. No. (xxxx)" For ex. Prayaas: Utkarsh Abstract Reg. No. 1234. Please do not forget to mention your registration number in your abstract while sending it.

Model Documentation

The teams, who are working under the guidance of the mentors, would have to submit a report fortnightly to them (CC to utkarsh[at]techfest[dot]org). These reports should contain updates of your solution i.e. up to which extent you have designed the solution and where you are facing difficulties. The last report is to be submitted till November 20th, 2010 which should contain completely elaborate explanation of your solution along with a video demonstrating the working principle of your solution.

The result of shortlisted participants along with feedback from the judges would be communicated to the teams by December 5th, 2010.

This final report and video should be mailed to us by post at following address:
Techfest Office,
Students' Gymkhana,
IIT Bombay, Powai,
Mumbai, 400076.
OR
Mail us at: utkarsh[at]techfest[dot]org

In case of a video that cannot be mailed, it can be clipped into series of videos so that they can be mailed. The name of Video should be UTKARSH__. Example- For team Id is 1234 If a video is broken into 5 clips, then the name of 3rd clip should be "UTKARSH_1234_3".

Final Presentation

The teams shortlisted for final presentation has to make a working model* along with a presentation covering technical and financial aspects in a detailed manner. The teams will have to bring their models to be judged and showcased at Techfest 2011. The working model should be as close as possible to the product you intend to let the consumer use.

No new entries will be entertained after November 20th 2010.

Judging Criteria

Utkarsh will be judged by a panel of experts. Following are the broad criterions for judging:

1. How implementable is your solution.
2. Possibility of the product getting produced using local skills.
3. Better use of resources which are available in the local areas.
4. Performance and maintenance of the solution (simplicity of the product).
5. Affordability.
6. Environmental friendliness.

*In some cases where it is not possible to make a working model then the team should make a prototype of their design.

The final solutions/innovations shall be forwarded to the organization and institutions working in the respective fields for further reviews in their RnD.

View the Rules

General Rules

1. The competition is open to all (students, research scholars and professionals).
2. Every team has to register online on our website for the competition. A registration number will be allocated to the team on registration which shall be used for future references.
3. A team can register at any point of time before November 15th, 2010 and can submit final abstract and video (as mentioned in structure). However, the abstracts submitted before August 27th, 2010 would be considered for mentorship. Teams which submit their abstracts at a later stage would be provided with mentors only if their idea is exceptionally good.
4. All teams will have to submit the videos of their prototypes along with an abstract before November 20th, 2010. The shortlisted team details will be put up on the website by December 5th, 2010.
5. The decision of judges shall be treated as final and binding on all.
6. Note that at any point of time the latest information will be that which is on the site. The information provided in the pdf downloaded earlier may not be the latest. However, registered participants will be informed through mail about any changes on the site.

For International Participants

All international participants will have to register before November 15th, 2010, and will have to submit the videos of their prototypes along with a complete report before November 20th, 2010. The shortlisted international team details will be put up on the website by December 5th, 2010.

Certificate Policy

Those participants whose ideas and plan of action are recommended by the judges, on the basis of their ability to get implemented, will be provided with certificate of participation. The top entries from this event would be provided with a certificate of excellence.

Team Specification

The participating entries must be in a team of a maximum of 6[six] people. If the participating team feels that their idea requires more participants in their team, they can forward their request, with suitable reasons, to utkarsh[at]techfest[dot]org with the subject "Utkarsh team number increase".

Register for Utkarsh