Thursday, 9 April 2020

Innovations in Tinkering Lab at The NorthCap University

Tinkering Lab in The NorthCap University was inaugurated by Prof B K Kuthiala, Chairperson Haryana Higher Education Council, Govt of Haryana, on 21st July 2018. The EECE dept. maintains the Tinkering Lab for the usage of all members of the university to promote innovative and interdisciplinary project work. The primary objective of the Tinkering lab is to spur the spark of creativity, foster curiosity and imagination in young minds, which go beyond regular curriculum and textbook learning. It is equipped with facilities such as Soldering station, PCB designing kit, equipment/components for Electronics development, Robotics, Internet of Things and Sensors, Electrical and measurement tools, Power supplies, Consumables, Computers, Printer, etc. Students of any discipline with a bend for invention and innovation can come together under one roof to give shape to their new ideas. Students can design, create and engineer prototypes, new products, etc. Moreover, the Tinkering lab is also used for fostering entrepreneurship and utilized by the students as incubators and accelerators for business start-ups.


Tinkering lab provides support in terms of manpower and resources. The dedicated technical staff and faculty members provide hands-on different emerging areas such as IoT, Big data, cloud computing, Robotics, etc. The in-charge of the Tinkering lab is an expert in making all kinds of electronic projects and is always ready to guide students. Students are motivated by the faculty members to work in the Tinkering lab; thus, students are making full use of the lab. Students of all disciplines such as ECE, CSE, ME, CE, Law, and Management work in this lab on different electronics based and mechanical projects using electronic circuits, Arduino boards, other microcontrollers, different types of sensors, motors, ICs and control circuit modules. Students work in the Tinkering lab by making groups, which enhances their peer to peer interaction with students of other streams as well, and this promotes interdisciplinary projects.

Some of the projects on which students have worked in the tinkering lab are Hydraulic bridge, Electronic quiz, Automatic gas stove controller, Air purifier, Automatic street light, Automatic emergency light, Floor cleaner, Automatic curtains, Home automation, Earthquake resistance building, Drone delivery system, Smart classroom with automatic room lock, light On-off system, Gesture controlled Car, Automatic smart parking system, Secret coded door lock, Portable emergency light, Musical alarm and many more. Approximately hundreds of projects are worked upon the tinkering lab. The lab is always open during the university timing. Students of all years are welcomed to work on basic to advanced levels of projects.

Project exhibitions and competitions are organized towards the end of each semester, and good projects are awarded through cash prizes and appreciation certificates to motivate students of the university to work on innovative and interdisciplinary projects. During the Student Project Exhibition conducted in the Tinkering Lab in December 2019, Automatic gas stove controller, Smart dine-in system, Home automation system using Google assistant and NodeMCU projects received cash prizes and certificates of appreciation.

Automatic car management system (with features of automatic type puncture detection in types of the car and automatic lifting of a car by lowering the jacks already attached the car body) project sponsored by the university under VC innovation fund was designed and given shape in the tinkering lab only.  Law students also visit tinkering lab to give shape to interdisciplinary projects. One of the projects included a bakery model representing Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) such as Patent, Copyright, Trademark, and Designs act, with the help of a small electronic circuit.
For any queries connect at vandanakhanna@ncuindia.edu


Written by 
Dr. Vandana Khanna, 
Assistant Professor, 
EECE Department 
at The NorthCap University, Gurugram.

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