With Design Thinking and Learning by Doing at the core, CMR University (CMRU) Bengaluru has been mentoring students with the vision of “Cultivating Thought Leaders to Drive Positive Global Change.” Now, multiple engineering students have brought laurels to the University through their unique application of Design Thinking modules.
Engineering students of CMR University’s School of Engineering and Technology (SOET) participated in the Mini Projects Expo conducted by the GSSS Institute of Engineering & Technology for Women and bagged the first prize for their unique “Smart LED Integrated With Sun Following Solar Panel”. These engineering students – Tarun Praveen Purohit, Srilakshmi Venugopal and Meghana; under the guidance of Prof. Subramanya Reddy, and Prof. Pavithra; outclassed students from 100 other engineering colleges and bagged top honours. CMR students developed individual units of the Smart LED system and integrated these. These innovations, by individual students are:
Smart LEDs (By Srilakshmi) – It is a circuit consisting of two LEDs that glows according to the command given by the user. The Arduino Uno is programmed in such a way that it recognises the voice of the user and gives the desired output. The HC05 is used as an interface between the Arduino and the user as it transfers the command from the user to the Arduino and then to the LEDs.
Sun Tracking Solar Panel (By Tarun) – It is a circuit consisting of two light detecting resistors (LDRs), solar panel and a servo motor. The LDRs detect the region in which the amount of sunlight falling on the solar panel is maximum. The Arduino is programmed in such a way that it accepts the input from the LDRs and then commands the servo motor to rotate the solar panel towards the region of more light, thereby ensuring that the solar panel receives maximum sunlight at all times.
Solar Lantern (By Meghana) – It is a circuit which uses a solar panel to capture the sunlight and stores it for future use.
A unique idea that the CMRU students came up with was the integration of Lakshmi’s and Tarun’s projects to form a single, energy efficient smart LED system that runs on solar power and recognises the voice of the administrator only.
The School of Engineering and Technology (SOET) at CMR University has recognized the achievements of the students in developing the Smart LED project. This is a shot in the arm for the Design Thinking pedagogy adapted at the University. Three cheers to Design Thinking!
