As the final year students of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering at Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi, were brainstorming for path
breaking ideas for their 200 marks project for the year, it was Sayish
Sancolcar, Mandar Komarpant, Shaunak Kudchadker and Rahul Harmalkar, who,
taking into consideration the alarming rates of road accidents, thought of
making an innovative helmet. Their project was selected to be displayed at the
recently held Bharatiya Vigyan Sammelan and Expo 2015. The speciality of the
helmet is that it does not let the rider start his two-wheeler without wearing
the helmet and even if you wear the helmet but you have consumed alcohol, the
bike won’t start.
“Our project is a smart-helmet for motorcyclists; a
safety helmet. The rider has to compulsorily wear the helmet which has a sensor
near the head of the rider and another sensor near the mouth piece to detect
any traces of alcohol. Our Head of Department, Dr G R Kunkolienker, and guide,
Sunita Raikar, were very happy about the project and asked us to complete it in
time for the expo,” says Shaunak from Curchorem. His team members, Sayish and
Rahul are from Panjim while Mandar is from Margao.
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He further explains, “We assembled all the sensors,
connections and transmitters for the project. The rear side of the helmet is
fitted with a battery-operated transmitter system and a small antenna. A switch
is fixed in the inside panel of the helmet with an alcohol detector sensor at a
small passage near the mouth of the helmet. A transmitter along with an antenna
is installed near the ignition coil of the bike, with a connection to the
bike’s battery and relay system. The entire project took us four months and it
will be evaluated in May-June this year for the final semester.”
A unique feature of the helmet which will also curb the
bike robbery problem in the state is that the bike will start only after the
rider wears the helmet without consuming alcohol. Once the helmet is worn, a
switch is automatically activated and a transmitter alerts the bike to get
ready to start via a transmitter signal to the bike receiver.
Is the helmet practical for riders? “The helmet works
very well and will help overcome problems like negligence in wearing the helmet
and drunken riding. If the project is mass produced, the helmets and the
connections for the bikes can cost around Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000,” says Rahul.
