It is rare when a product is developed keeping the elderly of the society in mind. Three young guys from National Institute of Design did just that and won a national award for it. Orb, an LPG gas knob automation that can turn itself off, control the flame and even track the number of whistles is a product that has recently won the Tata Elxsi's Ignite competition that aimed at designing a smart kitchen appliance for the elderly.
Created by fourth semester postgraduate students - Sushant Darake, Tawfik Manham and Arjun Raj Kumar - Orb was developed keeping in mind the competition, held on the World Industrial Day. "Elderly people often fail to keep track of the whistles blown by their pressure cookers. They also tend to forget to switch off the gas stove. We had a lot of ideas but decided to work on creating a knob that can do all these things for them," said Tawfik.
Not just for the elderly, this automatic knob can be handy for working women who multi-task, or hostel students who study for long hours and tend to forget that they have kept something on the stove to cook.
Created by fourth semester postgraduate students - Sushant Darake, Tawfik Manham and Arjun Raj Kumar - Orb was developed keeping in mind the competition, held on the World Industrial Day. "Elderly people often fail to keep track of the whistles blown by their pressure cookers. They also tend to forget to switch off the gas stove. We had a lot of ideas but decided to work on creating a knob that can do all these things for them," said Tawfik.
Orb is designed in a way that allows it to be used on all existing gas stoves and in fact, turns them into smart appliances. "It has three modes for various functions: timer mode that informs one about the time left, flame mode that tells if the flame is high or low and the whistle counter mode that shows how many whistles are remaining. The dials are mechanical and the knob has a display screen as well," Sushant explained.
The gadget additionally uses a simple microphone and a micro-controller coupled with a low latency e-ink display system to monitor time and count the whistles. A stepper motor is used to disengage the lock enabling the knob to turn off after the set time. "With this innovation, we can bridge the divide between gas stoves and new age electric ovens," he added.
The gadget additionally uses a simple microphone and a micro-controller coupled with a low latency e-ink display system to monitor time and count the whistles. A stepper motor is used to disengage the lock enabling the knob to turn off after the set time. "With this innovation, we can bridge the divide between gas stoves and new age electric ovens," he added.
Not just for the elderly, this automatic knob can be handy for working women who multi-task, or hostel students who study for long hours and tend to forget that they have kept something on the stove to cook.
Source: TOI