At present, Indian Railway depends on self-propelled ultrasound rail testing equipment for the purpose: File photoAlangad: A group of engineering students has built a robotic car to detect cracks on railway tracks.
The three students, belonging to SNGIST Engineering college, Manaykkapadi, have developed new technical know-how to locate even minute cracks that could lead to accidents and also any other obstacle on track.
Utilising the latest technology, the car will be more effective than the equipment currently available.
The car runs on railway track and detects cracks along its path.
At present, Indian Railway depends on self-propelled ultrasound rail testing equipment for the purpose.
However, its constant use is not possible because the equipment is bulky and the technology employed is not advanced.
The new car invented by the students utilises ultrasound technology and transmits the information to mobile phones using the SIM card incorporated in it.
With the security features built into the car, not only will warning messages be sent, but also information regarding the exact location of the crack can be picked up via GPS.
The students who developed the robotic car, Rithish Thomas, Ananthu Krishnan and Lyon Kurien, are in final-year students of Electronics and Communication course. They were guided in their effort by the head of Department of Electronics and Communication John Palakkappally and assistant professors C S Anoop and M J Amitha.
Costing less than Rs 2 lakh to build, the robotic car runs on solar energy as well as battery.
The students said that Artificial Intelligence would also be incorporated soon in their invention.
