Online Internship Carnival, held from May 24, 2021, to July 19, 2021.
This innovative program, conducted under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS), focused on “Technovations in the domain of Agriculture & Water.” It provided a unique platform for exceptionally talented undergraduate students to engage in cutting-edge projects and gain invaluable experience.
Overview:
- Duration: 8 weeks (May 24, 2021 – July 19, 2021)
- Mode: Online
- Participants: 100 interns selected from engineering institutes across India.
Internship Structure and Activities:
Participants were divided into interdisciplinary teams of five, each working on one of the 10 diverse projects related to Agriculture and Water technology. The internship kicked off with extensive training sessions led by industry and academic experts. Topics covered included Design Thinking, Advanced CAD practices, CFD and Finite Element Analysis, Systems Level Modeling, Life Cycle Analysis, Project Management, Patent Search, Manufacturing Simulations, and Techno-economic analysis.
Project Highlights:
- Electrical Vehicles and Cobotics for Agriculture: Teams designed innovative swarm robots for agricultural applications.
- Fisheries: Development of solar-powered aerators with IoT-based control.
- Post-Harvest Management: Creation of automatic harvesters for tree and plant-based crops.
- Urban Farming: IoT-based hydroponic growing systems.
- Cold Chain Management: Design of low-cost refrigeration systems for small farmers.
- Food Processing: High-efficacy automatic fish deboning and Indian gooseberry deseeding machines.
- Precision Agriculture: Hydrogen/EV-based hopping drones or crop hoppers for enhanced field surveillance.
- Hydrogen-Based Rural Development: A comprehensive model village powered by hydrogen.
- Food and Public Distribution: Development of a farm-to-fork supply chain network.
- Fertilizers: Design of biowaste organic fertilizer granulators.
Mentorship and Evaluation:
Interns received continuous mentorship from professionals in industry and academia, ensuring regular intellectual support and guidance. The evaluation process was thorough, with each team presenting their projects to a panel of experts from both industry and academia. The comprehensive evaluation was based on the submitted reports, progress logs, and final presentations, which were also broadcast on public platforms.
Awards and Recognition:
Ten winning teams were recognized for their outstanding performance. These teams were offered paid internships for six months at IIT Ropar, along with travel and stay to explore future collaborations and meet their mentor faculty members. Additionally, five of the winning teams received seed grants of up to ₹10 lakhs to support their startup initiatives.
Impact and Future Prospects:
The Online Internship Carnival was a resounding success, fostering innovation and providing a significant boost to technological advancements in agriculture and water management. The program not only offered students a platform to showcase their skills but also bridged the gap between academic learning and real-world applications.
Participants gained hands-on experience in interdisciplinary teamwork, problem-solving, and project management, equipping them with essential skills for their future careers. The collaboration with industry partners like Abaqus (Dassault Systèmes), Ansys, Comsol, MATLAB (MathWorks), Nvidia, and Moldex3D further enriched the learning experience, exposing interns to state-of-the-art tools and technologies
Summary of Patents Filed During the Internship:
During the internship, the following patents were filed, reflecting the innovative efforts of the participants:
- AN EXPANDABLE CHAMBER-TYPE COLD STORAGE SYSTEM FOR STORING BULK PERISHABLE PRODUCTS
- Inventors: Shahu, Abhishek Fulchand; Siddolla, Anil Kumar; Pradhan, Debashis; Birhade, Rahul; Bhatnagar, Sarthak; Nirmalkar, Neelkanth; Kumar, Suman
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 31-Dec-21
- Status: FER Awaited, Application not published yet
- AN AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM FOR LOW PAYLOAD GRIPPER CHANGING MECHANISM AND ITS METHOD THEREOF
- Inventors: Yadav, Vineet; Bhat, Harshal; Saini, Pradeep; Verma, Akshay; Aher, Jaideep
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 5-Jan-22
- Status: Granted
- AN IOT-ENABLED POROUS MEMBRANE-BASED AERATION SYSTEM
- Inventors: Banerjee, Diptesh; Singhal, Himanshu; Singla, Jashan; Mandal, Rohan; Praneeth, AVSS; Nirmalkar, Neelkanth; Kumar, Suman
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 13-Jan-22
- Status: Application not published yet
- A SOLAR CELL-BASED SYSTEM FOR THE TREATMENT OF BIOMASS AND THE METHOD THEREOF
- Inventors: Ojha, Ayush; Mahajan, Dhiraj K.
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 18-Jan-22
- Status: Application not published yet
- AN ULTRASONIC SENSOR BASED PENDULUM TYPE GRANULATOR ASSEMBLY AND METHOD FOR MEASUREMENT THEREOF
- Inventors: Patil, Akshata; Sharma, Ishita; Harsha, Kodi Shree; Bharadia, Muskan; Sharma, Nikhil; Kaur, Rishemjit
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 21-Jan-22
- Status: Application not published yet
- AN IoT-BASED HYDROPONIC SYSTEM AND METHOD OF WORKING THEREOF
- Inventors: Malak, Fabasherah; Seth, Abhishek Prasad; Sarma, Satyam; Tomar, Somya; Sahu, Susmit Kumar; Kumar, Suman; Singh, Pushpendra Pal
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 27-Jan-22
- Status: Application not published yet
- A VAPOR COMPRESSION-BASED REFRIGERATION SYSTEM UTILIZING FAN-BASED COOLING FOR STORING FOOD PRODUCTS
- Inventors: Singhal, Himanshu; Dalal, Avantika; Yadav, Gaurav; Rastogi, Sonali; Teja, Jayanthi Shanmukha; Nirmalkar, Neelkanth; Kumar, Suman
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 28-Jan-22
- Status: Application not published yet
- FEED CONICAL MIXER WITH AUGER IMPELLER
- Inventors: Kataria, Aditya; Gupta, Mridula; Basu, Supramit; Singh, Gaurav Kumar; Mittal, Ashwani; Kaur, Rishemjit
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 28-Feb-22
- Status: Application not published yet
- RADIUS EXTRUDER DEVICE FOR PELLETIZATION
- Inventors: Kataria, Aditya; Gupta, Mridula; Basu, Supramit; Singh, Gaurav Kumar; Mittal, Ashwani; Kaur, Rishemjit
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation
- Date of Filing: 23-Mar-22
- Status: Application not published yet
- BIOPOLYMER-BASED COMPOSITION FOR PREPARING PACKAGING MATERIAL AND PREPARATION THEREOF
- Inventors: Dhaliwal, Isha; Dhaliwal, Abhishek
- Applicant: IIT Ropar-Technology and Innovation Foundation; Dhaliwal, Isha
- Date of Filing: 16-Dec-22
- Status: Application not published yet