IIT Delhi unveils innovative projects

New Delhi, April 19: A digital microscope to see cells in 3-D, a helmet whose strap tightens with the click of a button and components which make buildings earthquake resistant -- are among the many projects IIT Delhi has put on display on Wednesday, three days ahead of its 13th Open House.

The innovative projects on show are near completion and some of them have even been patented and are now being used by the industries.

"Our goal has always been to make IIT conducive for research for students... We have executed 40 projects since last year," S. Basu, Assistant Dean, Research and Development, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, said at the event.

To make research a continuous affair, the IIT-D has launched a plan that "involves students from all four years" so that the research doesn't die with the passing out of the student, but makes itself available to be taken over by the juniors, he said.

Basu apprised the media about the institute's collaboration with Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO), wherein the former will receive Rs 230 crore over five years to build technologies to thwart mine attacks, assess their impact, and to build a "spy-balloon" -- conceptualized as a drone -- among others.

He also said the institute last year received a funding of Rs 170-180 crore, a marked improvement from a usual Rs 100-120 crore.

"We are proud to step into another edition of Open House and like every year we look forward to provide opportunity to our visitors to experience the state-of-the-art innovations of our students and faculty at IIT-Delhi," IIT-D Director Ramgopal Rao said in a statement.

The Open House will be held on the IIT-D campus on April 22 where a wide array of projects and innovations will be shown to public.

A mobile application -- Open House App -- will also be launched on the same day, which will be a repository of all the cutting edge technologies the institute has produced.

IANS