MITE students’ projects sparkle in national contest

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, February 24, 2017: A team of students from the Moodbidri-based Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering (MITE) has won the platinum award with a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakh at the annual design and innovation contest – KPIT Sparkle – conducted by KPIT Technologies.

Addressing presspersons in Mangaluru on Thursday, Rajesh Chowta, chairman of Rajalaxmi Education Trust (MITE is established under this Trust), said that the project of the four final year Mechanical Engineering students from the college – ‘Frictionless gear transmission using poly-magnets’ – has won the award.

MITE’s team was one among the 35 finalists at the contest. Around 10,000 students from 329 colleges from 27 states had submitted around 1500 projects for the contest.

The projects proposed by students were judged by a panel of jurors based on criterion such as innovation, social impact, technical knowledge, and completeness of prototype.

He said that the theme of this year’s contest was ‘Smart cities: Towards a smarter co-existence’.

Sharafath Shahsu, one of the members of the winning team, said that the project is aimed at overcoming drawbacks of the mechanical gear systems used in automobile industry. Poly-magnets can be programmed, helping in the contact-less torque transmission, he said.

Chowta said that another project from three students of Electronics and Communication Engineering of MITE – ‘Automation of wastewater harnessing to generate electric power using SMFC (sedimentation of microbial fuel cells) methodology’ -- was among the 35 finalists at KPIT Sparkle. The project aims at using bacteria in waste water to produce power.