Innovative ideas of students pass Taqaddam test
Awards were given to the participants of life skills programme developed by British Council and HSBC
Times News Service
MUSCAT: A smart helmet for construction workers, road sensors to alert drivers of lane drifting, and a solar-powered irrigation monitoring system for farms.
These were the winning ideas honoured by the British Council and HSBC Bank Middle East at the culmination of their annual Taqaddam life skills programme in Muscat.
Helping to develop resilient youth who can thrive in a rapidly changing work environment, Taqaddam challenges participants to apply their newly acquired soft skills to present a solution to a global or social problem. More than 400 students from the Caledonian College of Engineering and Higher College of Technology participated this year, with Omani nationals representing 80 per cent of the participants. Divided into teams, the students presented a total of 56 big ideas. The winning team members will now be given the opportunity to join the British Council in Oman for an internship.
In first place was the ‘Smart Helmet’. This team aims to ease weather conditions for construction workers with a modernised hard hat featuring a cooling fan and a light, powered by both battery and solar panels. The students consulted a team of construction workers on the prototype and positive feedback has led them to seek sponsorship to make the project a reality. The team in second place plans to improve road safety by developing sensors that monitor when vehicles drift from their lanes. The sensor would then alert any oncoming traffic with flashing red lights.
Tackling an environmental issue, the team in third place proposes to develop a solar device that can measure the soil around crops to regulate irrigation systems on farms. This method of irrigation would save countless gallons of water used by agricultural companies, as crops would only be watered when required, rather than based on a predetermined watering schedule.
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