Bhubaneswar March 8, 2011 - A passionate innovator from Bhubaneswar Gautam Kumar has been named the Social Innovator of the year by 112-year old technology publication Technology Review from Massachusetts Institute of Technology USA in its India edition. Gautam, 26, was chosen for developing a device – Suraksha -- that detects leakage of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and sends warning messages to people on their mobile phones.

Kumar along with co-founder Kushal Nahata got the idea to develop the device when he read about a gas leakage accident in Bhubaneswar in which a few people lost their lives.

“The incident reminded of a similar but bigger accident that occurred near Kushal’s parents’ house in Chandni Chowk, New Delhi, a few years back,” recalls Gautam. The duo immediately felt the need of an alarm system which could warn people in time to save lives or even avoid such hazards before it is too late. Gautam is among the 18 young Indians, all under age 35, who have been chosen by a Technology Review India as part of the India TR35. 

“These award-winning young innovators exemplify innovation in business and technology. Each year, the editors of Technology Review honour the India TR35, a set of young innovators whose inventions and research they find most exciting Their work—spanning medicine, computing, communications, electronics, nanotechnology, and more—is changing our world,” says Narayanan Suresh, Editor of Technology Review india who led the India TR35 initiative in India for the second year in a row.  .

The device from Roboticwares is based on the olfactory kind of sensors which enables an intelligent machine to detect a certain type of smell and based on preset rules perform the actions which are programmed in it. Gautam’s Suraksha can be configured to communicate with a maximum of five people by registering their cell phone numbers on the device. It sounds an alarm and sends a short message (SMS) to inform the registered users about the impending danger so that they are warned against starting any kind of fire or lighting a cigarette in the affected area.

The TR 35 honorees will describe their revolutionary and inspiring work at the 3rd emerging technologies conference—EmTech India—to be held at Bangalore on March 22 and 23. The EmTech conference will feature eminent professors and researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School and several scientists from India.

LPG blasts account for a significant chunk of burn and fire incidents in India. Yet there are hardly any devices developed to detect and automatically warn people about gas leakage so that safety measures can be taken in time. The team at Roboticwares had initially developed a leakage sensor with a buzzer alarm. Then they realized that a buzzer alarm is of no use in an empty house. The alarm was improvised into an SMS-based feedback system which was connected to the sensor to detect gas leakage and immediately send SMS alerts to all the phone numbers registered in the system, says Technology Review India in its forthcoming issue.

The device starts checking the amount of LPG in the air if it reaches greater than or equal to seven parts per million (ppm). The buzzer or the SMS alerts, however, are set off once the amount of LPG reaches greater than or equal to 1000 ppm. The buzzer remains on until the amount of LPG in the air reduces to a safer level. And the SMSes are also sent again once the leakage stops.

The Suraksha device would cost a user approximately Rs.3,000–Rs.4,000. It also comes in separate variants for industrial and domestic use. The industry-optimized Suraksha is capable of sustaining extreme temperature conditions—from a range of minus 70 degrees centigrade to plus 70 degrees centigrade—as well as large voltage fluctuations. Roboticwares is now looking for a government subsidy to reduce the price for the common man.

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