From robots to green energy: students showcase innovations at Karachi sci-tech festival

Festival features 70+ students from 40 institutions showcasing projects

SINDH/ KARACHI:

From robots to hybrid green energy solutions to insects that break down garbage, students from all over Sindh have come to Karachi to showcase their innovations at the three-day Youth Science and Technology Festival.

Inaugurated on Friday by the Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs, Sardar Muhammad Bakhsh Mahar, the festival features 70+ students from around 40 institutions showcasing their projects. For those with the best projects, prize money exceeding Rs200,000 has been allocated, with Rs100,000 going to first place.

Mahar explained that to ensure the quality and transparent evaluation of projects, a panel comprising professors, experts, and professionals has been formed to assess each project fairly and on technical grounds.

When I spoke to the students yesterday, almost everyone stated that the work on display was the culmination of months, or even a year, of research and work. There were over 50 stalls present, with some students having to share a stall. While I would prefer to detail everything that I saw, here are some of the most innovative projects on display.

Garbage-disposal larva

A group from SST Public School, Rashidabad, showcased their project: black soldier fly larvae and mealworms that could be used to break down waste at an extremely low cost, according to the two students, Ravi and Sidra.

"These are zero-expense," Dr Maleeha Jamil explained, stating that these flies give birth to many offspring at a time, which makes this method of garbage disposal effective. She added that the larvae and mealworms could feed on biowaste, even plastics, though in the demonstration, I could only see them consuming the former.

Here's a video I took of the pupa and larvae. Viewer discretion is advised in case you dislike insects.

You may think that allowing so many larvae to feed and grow would result in swarms of beetles and flies near every garbage heap; however, the students had a solution for this. "These larvae are around 60% protein," Sidra said, saying that using them as animal feed would not only work, but in experiments where they added them to chicken feed and fish feed, it resulted in larger egg yolks and larger fish with more Omega-3 content.

Further research would have to be done on whether this has any adverse impacts on the health of the animal or whether there are unforeseen side effects, and more evidence would need to be found on whether or not the benefits of adding these to animal feed are quantifiable or not.

What was most compelling, however, was when Ravi shared that around "1kg of larvae could eat around 3kg of waste." My mind immediately went to the pseudo-landfill outside my house, and I had half a mind to ask them for a handful then and there.

Codion, the talking robot

The siblings Humbal and Barirah created Codion, an AI-powered humanoid robot capable of speech, autonomous movement and interactive responses. And before you think of Meta or Boston Dynamics robots, think again.

Codion, the bilingual bot

The prototype is a skeleton on wheels, a design choice governed mostly by Barirah and one I can get behind. It can hold a conversation, respond to your commands for it to walk (or roll, in this case), speak to you in English and Urdu, tell you about itself, and if it is connected to the internet, can look things up for you in case it does not have the answer available.

Speaking of things it can look up, it can also recite Urdu poems, but I was unable to test this, seeing as the internet at the venue was quite slow.

Humbal and Barirah, both well-versed in programming, explained that the robot had an "onboard memory that it could use to answer questions", but when I asked Humbal if it knew that it was in a demonstration, he admitted that it would not be able to know that. That was unfortunate to hear, but I had to remind myself that it was, after all, just a prototype.

WALL-E's prototype sibling

Yes, you read it right. Inspired by one of our favourite childhood movies, this robot was designed and built by Simrah, a student from Karachi's Shaheed-e-Millat College for Women.

She and her brother explained that it navigated via its built-in live camera feed and showcased a compartment on the front that could hold large parcels. Their idea is to develop a robot that can transport, serve, and deliver items to people in locations such as airports, malls, and even restaurants.

While it is not yet autonomous, it can be controlled remotely, and can even look around and adjust its hand's grip. Unfortunately, Wall-E does find it difficult to travel on carpets, so these are two problem areas that they are actively working on.

Self-driving shopping cart

From Mehran University's Khairpur Campus, Peeryo has built a shopping cart that can automatically follow you, scan the price of items in your cart, sense the weight of the cart and even count the number of items in the cart.

"This would be a big help for people with disabilities," he said, showing us an app he had designed to work with the cart. I tested out the cart myself, and while it was slow, the cart did follow me. However, I was unable to move too far away from it, as the cart would "lose sight" of me.

"The prototype is small, so it's unable to hold a large load. But the actual design would be much larger," he said.

Solar panelled wind turbine

The turbine that Yasir, Muhammad and Arslan from the University of Larkana built has three flexible solar panels as its "blades", bent into a helical shape. The model is indigenously assembled, with the turbine blades sourced from China.

"With this, you can harness both solar and wind power at the same time," said Yasir, adding that the shape of the turbine lets wind turn it from multiple angles while also allowing for maximum surface area for sunlight to hit the panels.

Small-scale model of the helical turbine

According to the students, the model is built to connect directly to the grid or to batteries, and power generation data is measured through sensors on the turbine. Importantly, Yasir explained that the helical shape and near-constant movement of the turbines keep dust from damaging the sensitive photovoltaic cells.

Muhammad also told me that the design could be scaled to different sizes, depending on the needs of the customer, so this is something that can fit onto the roof of a home as well as in an energy park.

Burning compost for power

Also from Mehran University, Salman, Faheem and another student displayed their "biowaste to bioelectricity" model, using photovoltaic thermal (PVT) cells (cells that collect heat and light energy) to capture the energy released by burning agricultural waste.

The model with biowaste in the basket is connected to a lightbulb and PVT cells

"40 million tonnes of agricultural waste is generated in Pakistan per year. If we burned it all for energy, we could generate up to 15,000 MW." They said, using data generated through the Low Emissions Analysis Platform climate forecasting software. They also claimed that 100,000 tonnes of waste could be used to power 100,000 households for 30 years.

Salman told me that countries such as Malaysia and India have policies in place to handle agricultural waste, but Pakistan does not. The students added that the initial capital cost for a power plant of this nature could be as high as $1.2 million, but that it would be a one-time investment, and that this project would greatly benefit rural areas where power line infrastructure is hard to install and maintain.

However, burning biological waste in large quantities would negatively impact the immediate environment and may lead to worse atmospheric conditions. It is unclear whether the short-term benefits would be worth the long-term detriments.

Biodegradable bandages

Nimrah, Saira, Nisha and Sufiya from the Jinnah University for Women have come up with a plant-based bandage set to combat plastic waste. Used bandages do not degrade in nature and end up being hazardous to marine life.

They explained that by using starch extract to make a bioplastic base, a mix of okra extract and gelatin to make the adhesive agent, and pomegranate peels to make the antiseptic part of the bandage, they could make a biodegradable, sustainable bandage.

Portable power supply for paramedics

Ijaz and Abdul from Indus University have designed a portable energy solution for medical use in ambulances and have reached out to Sindh Ambulance Rescue services with this prototype.

This modular, portable system is complete with multiple information displays and outlets

"Say a person has a heart attack in the ambulance, and say the ambulance is stranded for some time due to heavy rain, or you are in a far rural area and cannot get a 220 Volt supply easily. This machine is made for those situations," Ijaz said.

Ijaz told me that the machine can handle one machine, like a respirator or monitoring system, for a period of 18-20 hours. "The battery is a lithium iron phosphate battery, which is safer than a lithium-ion battery," he said, adding that in the event of an emergency, the battery offers higher stability than its counterpart.

The battery can be charged in 1.5 hours on solar power and 15 minutes through the grid, and weighs 13.5 kilograms with an option to transport it like a suitcase. The system also features two separate control modules, one where the user can turn it on and off at will, and another where an administrator can switch the system on or off remotely.

SupeRAFT

Moiz from the Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology showed us the SupeRAFT: a remote-controlled marine rescue device. Capable of holding up to 200kg, he explained that the device has a 1-hour battery life and is designed to go rapidly respond to people in distress at sea, especially in situations where sending another human might be dangerous.

According to him, the raft features a dual propulsion system and uses radar and computer vision to help pinpoint the location of someone in distress, as well as an underwater scanning system. The prototype had cost between two and three hundred thousand rupees to make.

And many more...

It's difficult to write about all of the things I saw at the event. A team from Indus University showed off AI-powered goggles that used visual detection software to give auditory cues to the visually impaired, and another team from Hamdard University demonstrated a pair of AI-assisted glasses that, in tandem with a specialised keyboard, helped people with neuromuscular disease use a computer.

Ayesha from DOW displayed dental tablets that replaced toothpaste entirely, which, if popularised, would stop us from adding on to the "1.5 billion tubes of toothpaste sitting in landfills," according to her. In that same stall, Lahin talked about bandages made of Velcro that she designed specifically to help people with foot ulcers, since that is a symptom for people with diabetes.

The event goes to show the vast talent the Pakistani youth possesses. The award ceremony will be held on Sunday, where out of all these teams, and more that I have been unable to mention, only three will receive prizes for their work.