Students and fellows at IIT-Delhi have developed a ‘smart’ cane that will help the blind navigate their way in spite of all obstacles that hamper their movement. It only costs Rs 3,000, which is about 25 times less than the market price of similar products that are currently available.

IIT-Delhi develops affordable 'smart' cane for blind

On 27 January 2017, Time Inc. announced the winners of the Second Annual TIME India Awards, at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Partnership Summit, in Andhra Pradesh, India.

The Indian Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, presented the awards. McKinsey & Company was the knowledge partner for the awards.The 2017 TIME India Awards recognized the country’s most exciting startups and small and medium-sized businesses.

Phoenix Medical Systems was the winner of the MSME Innovator for the Year award, which was received by the Managing Director, V. Sashi Kumar, and Executive Director, Smita Sashikumar. The winners of the awards were selected among 18 finalists, who were identified from a pool of approximately 15,000 manufacturing companies after an assessment of their qualitative and quantitative parameters. The finalists were announced at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, in January 2017.

A jury of key business magnates led by Vice Chairman of Time Inc., Norman Pearlstine, selected the winners of the Time India Awards in each category. The panel included General Electric Vice Chairman, John Rice; Infosys Founder, N.R. Narayana Murthy; ICICI Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Chanda Kochhar; Time Inc. Executive Editor, International, Clay Chandler; and McKinsey & Company Chairman (Asia), Kevin Sneader.

2017 TIME India Award

A notable proportion of term and preterm infants develop neonatal jaundice. Jaundice in an otherwise healthy term infant is the most common reason for readmission to hospital. Jaundice is caused by an increase in serum bilirubin levels, largely as a result of breakdown of red blood cells. The liver converts bilirubin into a conjugated form which is excreted in the bile. Very high levels of un-conjugated bilirubin are neurotoxic. Phototherapy is a simple and effective way to reduce the bilirubin level.

Depending on the severity of jaundice, phototherapy is administered from a single side or from both the sides to the baby. Overhead phototherapy units mounted on a stand are generally used to administer phototherapy from a single side.

Double surface phototherapy units currently available in the market are fixed to a warmer or bassinet. They do not provide us the leverage of swapping it to another equipment. Babies need to be shifted to an equipment dedicated to double surface phototherapy. We have designed a compact blue LED phototherapy which can be used in conjunction with any warmer, bassinet and incubator. Thus providing the staff the ease of providing phototherapy to a baby without having to shift it to a particular warmer or bassinet.

Nymphaea is sleek and light weight (<4Kg) and can be handled effortlessly by staff. The unit is flexible and harmonises into the neonatal work space. Phototherapy can be administered without hindrance to respiratory and warming therapies. It offers effective treatment with an efficient surface area coverage. The unit is suitable for term and pre-term babies. Nymphaea can be easily stored in a drawer or cup board. The surface is smooth without grooves and easy to clean. Infection control is vital in a NICU considering which there is no fan in the unit. The power consumption is minimal at 15W reducing the operation cost of the equipment.
Nymphaea can be used with a water mattress or gel mattress.

Nymphaea is a compact blue LED phototherapy which can be used in conjunction with any warmer, bassinet and incubator.

IIT-Delhi develops affordable 'smart' cane for blind

Read more