Students develop Solar cap for street hawkers

By Mehboob Inamdar

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Hundreds of street vendors face light problems at night as they cannot afford electricity connection. They have to do business in poor night visibility. When it comes to women, the situation is more difficult to sell their goods.

Taking this into consideration, two school students in collaboration with the Atal Incubation Centre of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (AIC-Bamu) developed a solar hawker cap.

Chief Executive Officer of AIC-Bamu Amit Ranjan said that his incubation centre helped to make students' innovation of raw stage into prototypes. He said that the AIC is providing all types of guidance including market and financial support for the innovation.

Sneha Nagare and Gauri Salunkhe, the class 7th students of Vainateya Vidyalaya and Junior College of Science (Niphad), have initially developed the innovative project ‘The Solar-Powered Vendor Assistant, under the guidance of Shirish Pandit at the Atal Tinkering Lab.

The students said that this device aims to solve key challenges faced by over 10 million street vendors in India, including extreme heat and poor night visibility, which affect their sales and well-being.

The Solar-Powered Vendor Assistant is a cap-mounted device designed to help vendors by providing voice marketing, night lighting, and cooling through a solar-powered system. It uses 10 small solar panels, a lithium-ion battery, an ISD 1820 voice module, an LED strip, and a mini fan to function efficiently without electricity.

The initial prototype was tested with vendors, and based on their feedback, the students improved its weight, speaker volume, and cooling power.

Developed over six months with a budget of Rs 2140, this cost-effective solution can benefit street vendors, security guards, farmers, and delivery workers. Sneha and Gauri’s project highlights the impact of STEM education and innovation in solving real-world problems. Their dedication and creativity make this a promising step toward improving the lives of hardworking street vendors across India.

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Amit Ranjan said that innovation is the main driving force of economic growth and sustainable development of the country. He said that guidance for innovation matters because technical change is not neutral and hence bears significant social, economic and environmental development implications.