Abu Dhabi: Innovators from the around the UAE gathered in the capital on Thursday to display their creative projects, as part of the 2016 UAE Innovator Show.
Now in its third year, the Innovator Show, held on March 3-4, aims to encourage the spirit of innovation among young people in the UAE, with two separate awards handed out to the best projects — one decided by a group of experts and the other by the visitors to the show.
Innovator Show 2016 is organised by Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee (TDC) in partnership with INTEL, innovator programme’s technology partner, The Municipality of Abu Dhabi City (Community Partner), and other partners including Admaf and Techshop. Here are some of the designs showcased.
WiCharge for electric cars
Ashwin Balaji, 22, from India, a student at Heriot Watt University in Dubai, along with his team, presented the WiCharge project, an innovative way to charge electric vehicles.
“What we have managed to do is set up a way of charging any electronic vehicle without the use of wires. We place a transmitter on the ground and the car parks over it, and automatically gets charged,” Balaji explained to Gulf News.
“For safety reasons, it doesn’t charge all the time. When the car comes over the transmitter, the user gets a notification on their phone through an application we have developed, informing the driver that they’re in a charging area after which, the driver can decide whether he wants to charge the car or not,” he added.
The driver is able to monitor the charging process on his mobile device as well.
Balaji told Gulf News that the specifications of WiCharge had to be built just right in order for the equipment to work.
“There is the receiver, and two special inductors, made by us. The transmitter and receiver have to be designed with care so they transfer the maximum energy, so a lot of modelling and simulations were involved,” Balaji added.
Safety controls for a car
Another project on display is by Emirati students Abeer Al Shehhi, 27, and Zahra Al Za’abi, 23, from the Higher Colleges of Technology in Fujairah. Their system boosts the safety controls of a car.
“We developed many different ideas around the theme of safety. For example, we have placed a pressure sensor in the car, which allows the owner of the car to know if someone is trying to steal their car. If the pressure sensor is set off, the car will automatically switch off, and the driver will receive an immediate warning text message on their mobile phone,” said Al Za’abi.
Other sensors built into the car include warnings on when the oxygen levels drop, or if harmful gases enter the car.
“If there is a lack of oxygen, the sensors will immediately trigger a sound warning notifying the driver, and the windows will also automatically open,” Al Za’abi explained. “Recently, in Ras Al Khaimah, a husband and wife died in their car because of carbon monoxide poisoning. With our system, the driver will be notified if such a threat occurs,” she added.
First student-built racing car in the UAE
Sadjyat Biswal, 21, from India, studying at BITS Pilani Institute of Science and Technology in Dubai, has helped manufacture the first student-built racing car in the UAE, and along with his team is looking to manufacture their prototype.
“We conceived of this idea around three years ago, as we wanted to promote the culture of student automotive research in the UAE. We have developed and built the first-ever race prototype car at a student level in the UAE and the Gulf,” said Biswal.
The car also comes with its own unique set of innovations according to Biswal.
“We have built a device called the restrictor, which is placed at the rear of the car. This is for fuel efficiency,” he said.
“For the safety of the driver, we have also made a kill switch. Once pressed, the switch enables the car to completely switch off in an emergency,” he added.
The student-manufactured racing car also comes with its own set of numbers that will excite racing lovers.
“It has a very good weight of 250 kilograms, which makes it lightweight and fast, and has a top speed of 190 kilometres per hour, and an acceleration of zero-100 in about five seconds,” Biswal said.
“The car budget is around Dh150,000, which we have managed to get thanks to some of our sponsors,” he added.
