Students make beeline to use DRDO simulator

PHAGWARA: A simulator developed by Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), for training Army men to cross risky bridges at high altitudes drew much response during the expo of the Indian Science Congress at the LPU in Phagwara today.

A youngster uses a simulator, developed by the SASE for training Army men to cross risky bridges at high altitudes, at a stall during the Indian Science Congress in Phagwara on Saturday. Sarabjit Singh

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Phagwara, January 5

A simulator developed by Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE), a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), for training Army men to cross risky bridges at high altitudes drew much response during the expo of the Indian Science Congress at the LPU in Phagwara today.

School students, especially boys, made a beeline to get an opportunity to use the 5-D simulator and experience the thrill of crossing the virtual bridge between two peaks taking long leaps on laid down ladder-like structure with nothing to hold in hand.

“The realistic video that ran during the virtual crossing over of the bridge with snow-capped mountains, deep gorge and foggy environs as seen through the simulator made the experience completely overwhelming,” said Gurpreet Singh, a student from an Amritsar school.

Another major attraction for the students was the autonomous robotic systems of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. The working robots could plan their own path, climb staircase and had artificial arms and hands. These could grip and detect any object coming ahead of them and return and produce the map of any location they were left at. The students enjoyed the 3-D real time images shown by cameras on ipads used for monitoring them. Some of the robots even had serpentine motion.

The students at the DRDO stalls also enjoyed wearing the 10.5-kg bulletproof suit and 3-kg high-heeled anti-mine shoes. The first stall of the Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety, another laboratory of the DRDO, with a model of Shank meant for washing hands using water mist aerator too had a lot many viewers. The media team of the DRDO shared that a normal tap used much more water than the one with mist as it was air mixed. A silver foil-based suit for firemen with which they could enter flames, put up at the same stall, too impressed many.