E-bike for forest guards
The students of National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK), Surathkal along with Professor U Pruthviraj, who currently heads e-mobility projects have developed the VidhYug 4.0 electric bike (e-bike) for forest guards.
The e-bike has garnered much praise for its reliability in a forest marked by steep inclines and rough terrain. It was unveiled during the ‘Shola Utsav’ organised by the Kudremukh Wildlife Division on November 17 last year, to raise awareness on the importance and conservation of Shola forests to senior forest department officers.
“The Kudremukh Wildlife Division, which is home to the vast shola forests and prominent flora and fauna, lies about nearly 100 km east of our college campus. Given the pristine nature of the forest, I thought we could introduce e-mobility here. After all, patrolling the forest necessitates silence. So, instead of simply constructing an e-bike for our college campus, we thought why not modify it and make one for the forest department. When we approached them with an idea to make an e-bike for forest surveillance, they gave us the green signal to test and use it there,” said Professor Pruthiviraj.
Massive research
According to Steevan Loyd, a junior research fellow with CSD at NITK who worked on this project, to design the e-bike, they first went to the forest department, took note of their requirements like a headlight doubling up as a torch light, different storage options, and charging docks, etc.
Then they began the process of coming up with a concept design using tools they learnt during their engineering courses like CAD (computer-aided design) and 3D-Printing. Following this, they did calculations on the amount of power, torque and speed needed to climb the steep inclines and rough terrain in Kudremukh. Once they included these calculations in the e-bike design, they conducted a static analysis on the same to see whether it’s capable of taking this load or not. Then they gathered all the materials needed to build this e-bike, put them together and came up with the prototype. Later it was taken to the Kudremukh Wildlife division for testing, where the officers rode it.
It was during the lockdown that Professor Pruthiviraj and his team began designing and developing the VidhYug 4.0
“My students were quite literally living in the laboratory for one week at a time before taking a three-day break in their hostels and then coming back to work. I would bring food for my students while there was also a small cafeteria at the department as well for them. We spent about four to five months in the fabrication stages, testing the e-bike on the college campus,” Professor Purthviraj said.
“It didn’t look like a product usually made by students. It was fully-finished, painted and ready to go on the field,” he said. “We took a lot of care in ensuring the e-bike is neat, ridable, and comfortable, with room for making more improvements, if needed,” he added.
E-bike needs government approval
However, even though the forest department has praised the e-bike, they are not using it for surveillance. According to senior forest officials, the decision to purchase it rests with the government.
The NITK team has received many inquiries for the VidhYug4.0 from industry, claims Pruthiviraj. But as an academic institution NITK can’t sell any product.
According to Professor Prithviraj, they are looking forward to knowledge transfer to any startup. “A few companies have come forward so far. The college administration is yet to take a call on it. Once this knowledge is transferred out to a startup, a lot more testing needs to be done, besides offering maintenance, servicing, etc. We are also getting many calls from different organisations working with forests,” he was quoted as saying by The Better India.
