Virtual monitoring, no remote possibility

BANGALORE: Sometimes the best innovations come from colleges. S K Jaismul Islam, Ashwaq Ahmed Azeez, Shah Ayub Quadri and Mohammed Fahad Khurshid, final year students of Ghousia College of Engineering have invented an ‘Internet Controlled Smart Car’ (ICSC) that is capable of live streaming what its camera captures through the internet. And that can be accessed from anywhere in the world by a person who has the required code. In other words the ICSC shows real time pictures of the location where the car is set up. “We took more than six months  to make the model,” says S K Jaismul Islam, whose team was guided by head of department of Computer Science, Raghavendra B K. “The ICSC can also be navigated easily through the internet within a restricted boundary. It simultaneously broadcasts the video of what its camera captures. If installed in a house, using the internet, one can navigate it remotely through different rooms,” says Islam. He says that the movement of the car is controlled by pressing appropriate buttons on a website, and anyone with acess can control the car and see the live pictures from the car from anywhere in the world. A unidirectional video and audio link aid the user in navigation. These also provide a stronger and more user-friendly means of communication with the environment of the robot. The remote control car has a wide range of applications. Islam claims that it can be used for surveillance purposes in military, domestic or industrial environments. The ability of ICSC can be controlled via the internet which makes it possible to make the control point of the ICSC as far as required from the area under surveillance. “We believe that this can be incorporated in the corporate environment. A CEO can be up-to-date with the office activities, by virtually moving around in the office through this device. The ICSC, in this sense bridges the communication gap considerably thereby helping the company to eventually improve profits, increase productivity and efficiency,” notes the college student.He says this technology can also be used in homes wherein parents can keep an eye on their children and old people. “Apart from that the car can be used in hospitals to keep a check on patients. The doctor has to just sit and control the movement of the ICSC,” notes IslamThis project might have taken the young team more than six months to complete, but they admit it is worth the effort.“We wanted to do something new by controlling the car through a parallel port. Many a time we were not getting any appropriate output, but after a long struggle, our project became successful and due to its unique features it will play an effective role in the future,” hopes Islam and the boys.