Dr. Piyush Dutta Innovation and Invention Prize

February 7, 2021 0 comments ISMAANA Admin Categories Patrika Q4 2020

Annual Piyush Dutta Innovation and Invention Prize of Rs. 1 lakh was established in January 2019 through a MOU between Piyush K. Dutta (‘60Min.Eng), IIT(ISM) and ISM Alumni Association of North America (ISMAANA). For year 2020, the event was announced in the month of June 2020 and the last date for submitting the entries was 15th October 2020.

In response to the announcement, a good number of entries were received. The selection of the winner (s) was made in two stages. In the first stage, six entries were shortlisted after the preliminary screening of the proposals received.

In the second stage, subsequent to the first screening of the proposals, the selected nominations were called for the final presentation in front of an approved panel of experts on 11th November 2020. The following jury members were present in the meeting:

  • Prof. Shalivahan, Dean (R&D), IIT (ISM) Dhanbad : Chairman
  • Prof. R. M. Bhattacharya, HOD, Dept. of Mining Engineering, IIT (ISM) Dhanbad : Member
  • Prof. L. A. Kumaraswamidhas, HOD, Dept. of Mining Machinery Engineering : Member
  • Mr. Praveen Singh, Innovation Manager, HZL & Alumnus of IIT(ISM) Dhanbad : Member
  • Prof. Pankaj Mishra, Associate Dean (Innovation), IIT (ISM) Dhanbad : Member
  • Prof. Ajit Kumar, Coordinator, Institute Events, NVCTI & Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mining Machinery Engineering : Member Secretary

The participants were allotted 15 minutes for presentation and demonstration via the Zoom online platform of their innovation, followed by 5 minutes of Question and Answer session related to their proposal. Based on the originality of the innovation (i.e., well-defined problem statement & its relevance, novelty, and creativity), methods and techniques (i.e., depth of understanding of the problem, approach, and solution), and model validation, following entries/students were declared joint winners:

  1. Sanchit Kumar (17JE002925) Mining Engineering – Deployment of Drones enabled with Satellite Imagery sensors along with custom algorithm in the Mining Industry
  2. Darshil Asawa (17JE002727) Mining Engineering and Kapil Verma (17JE003547) Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering – DAAP Guidance System

The winning idea by Mr. Sanchit Kumar was related to the development of AI based drone enabled satellite imagery technology which uses the knowledge of the mining industry in association with applied AI and analytics to create a custom algorithm that enables a safer and more sustainable mining process. In short, their algorithm allows mining industry to use imagery and drone technology to precisely locate more minerals above and below the surface”.

Team DAAP proposed a new machine that would revolutionize the marble and stone mining industry by making the process of hole finding more efficient, quicker and economical. As India is the second-largest producer of these stones in the world, contributing a massive 14% of the global output, this indigenous machine can change the way the world mines in the future.

Further, looking into the relevance of the innovation, readiness of the prototype, and based on the clarity of presentation, the committee recommended the distribution the prize with 65% of prize money to Team 1 (Mr. Sanchit Kumar, Dept. of Mining Engineering) and 35% of prize money to Team 2 (Darshil Asawa, Dept. of Mining Engineering & Mr. Kapil Verma, Dept. of Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering).