Speeding up the wheels of innovation

The campus at K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering transformed into an automobile playing ground earlier this week, when students unveiled their All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) —Yudhaan 1.0. The team behind the creation — Red Shift — comprising 25 boys and three girls from the mechanical engineering department recently beat all other city colleges at the prestigious BAJA SAE competition held in Indore, and stood at number 11 on an all-India level.  

The prototype is the lightest, strongest and the fastest car designed by a college team. It weighs 158 kg with a top speed of 50 kph and is designed to pull a weight of 1,800 kg, shares team-leader Harsh Jain. “We have designed the car using carbon fibres, making it light yet sturdy.  The turning radius of the car is just 2.2 metres and it can climb a hill of around 40 degrees. We named the car Yudhaan because we feel it is a warrior,” says Harsh who also happens to be one of the drivers of the car.

The team started making the car six months ago and it cost them Rs  3.28 lakh. Shedding light on the additional benefits of their vehicle Harsh adds, “The applications of this car would be in the field of agriculture as a potential replacement for big tractors for the farmers who can’t afford one or on the fields where space is less. It can also be used in rescue operations during emergency situations.”

Yudhaan 1.0

The students agree that they had to burn the midnight oil in order to balance their academics along with the designing of the vehicle. “We used to come early before college hours and stay back late in order to complete the car. Our transmission system is self-manufactured and we had to start everything from scratch,” says Kshitija Shetty, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering student.  Ask her how difficult it was to coordinate with a team so huge and she shares, “It was fun! An important thing all of us learned was team spirit and teamwork. We knew we had to build one of the best Red Shift cars and we managed to do that successfully.”

The team has already started preparing for the next competition and hopes to use its experience next year to build a better vehicle. “It helped us learn and gain practical knowledge beyond the four walls of our classroom. We are the 11th best team in the country and the best among Mumbai teams. It is a proud feeling for us. Our next car will be better and we have already registered for all the major competitions,” says Harsh.