Between 2019 and 2020, most parts of the world witnessed a spur in the COVID-19 pandemic. Most economies were hit as no immediate solution could help individuals and entities meet the sudden challenges that the pandemic had thrown at them.
The need of the hour was to get creative and think out of the box to develop solutions that can offer a safeguard against this pandemic and make survival possible. This is when most economies, including India, fell back on their engineering innovations, which made coping up a lot easier. Engineering innovations emerged to be the answer to many unanswered questions and challenges raised by the pandemic.
So today, in this article below, we, at the Indore Institute of Science & Technology, recognized among the top 5 engineering colleges in Indore, will shed light on how the various engineering innovations came to the rescue of the mankind when the entire world was under the clutches of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read on.
A look at how Engineering Innovations created a breakthrough amidst the pandemic:
To prevent the spread of the Corona Virus, it became important to stay masked at all times. Since the shelf-life of masks is limited and one needs to replace the disposable ones after every use, India’s dependence on China and other countries to import masks would have increased.
However, with a bent toward innovation, engineering students developed an automatic mask machine, which came in handy in manufacturing N95 masks. It was indeed the innovative edge of the young engineering minds of the nation that came over as a great aid in such critical times.
We all know how all our COVID warriors, especially the doctors and nurses who were frequently coming in contact with COVID-infected patients, had to wear PPE kits for as long as 18 hours. These kits were not just expensive but difficult to wear in India’s hot and humid climate.
However, a breakthrough came when engineering innovation led to the introduction of high-breathability PPE kits. The invention not just helped to bring the cost down but also made it easy for the healthcare staff to spend long hours wearing the same.
For most COVID-affected patients, their condition worsened because of the lack of availability of ventilators at medical facilities. As per news reports, some of the patients even lost their lives because the capacity of ventilators was less compared to the demand.
To meet this crisis, some bright and ambitious engineering students came up with the concept of portable ventilators. The best part about these ventilators was that they were low on cost and came in the size of an oven. This, in turn, made them affordable and ergonomically perfect. Even the breath specifications were in accord with what was recommended for COVID patients.
To prevent oneself from COVID 19, it was recommended to wash hands with soap frequently. It was equally important to stay sanitized.
However, if you were to visit a public place like a restaurant or a mall, you would have to operate the tap, soap dispenser, and sanitization dispenser with your bare hands. This further strengthened the possibility of the user contracting the virus.
This was overcome by turning to a push-lever, which meant the dispensers could be used by pressing the lever by one’s feet. This eliminated the fear of direct contact.
We, at the Indore Institute of Science and Technology, believe that today’s students are tomorrow’s changemakers, which is why equipping them with the right set of knowledge and keeping them introduced to engineering innovations becomes important.
Engineering Innovations Make “Change for Good” Possible!
We live in times of uncertainty. Today everything is in place, while tomorrow, everything can go haywire. Amidst this, staying prepared becomes necessary. For instance, nobody was prepared for the pandemic. However, engineering innovations saved the day for not just the Indian economy but all the economies around the world.
Thus, emphasis needs to be given to encouraging and backing engineering innovations. Of course, sufficient funding is necessary. However, what is even more important is to encourage such initiatives because you never know which can prove beneficial when.
This is something we, at the Indore Institute of Science and Technology, one of the top 5 engineering colleges in Indore, understand inside out. And this is why we do not want our students to grow merely theoretically. What we expect out of them is to put their knowledge to use and come up with breakthroughs that can take our country, India, to an all-new level altogether!