IIT students design helmet that alerts kin, hosp about mishaps

CHENNAI: The Techmet, a helmet that will inform the wearer's family as well as the emergency services in case the former is involved in an

accident and also give the location of the mishap site, is one of the products made by the students of Indian Instiute of Technology-Madras to be showcased at Shaastra. The 11th edition of the institute's technical festival, to be flagged off on Wednesday, will focus on sustainable development.

Shaastra 2009 aims at showcasing the sustainability of the projects. Participants in the SOS Cycle project can use the cycle as a means of transport rather than the bus inside the institute. SOS Energy will see the various hostels vying with one another for a month to save as much energy as possible to offset the extra use of electricity during the event, while SOS Recycle will attempt to make Shaastra a zero-waste festival. There will be an energy audit done during the four-day event.

A symposium has also been planned to formulate practical and feasible solutions to tackle sustainability, energy, urbalisation and financial issues. Speakers include urban strategy magaer of World Bank Abha Joshi Ghani, chairman of the Centre for Policy Research K C Sivaramakrishnan and associate director of Teri Akansha Chaurey.