A Unique Journey Of i-Bike A Driver Less Bicycle from IIT Kharagpur

i-Bike a driver less bicycle developed by IITians of IIT Kharagpur. Life can turn amazing if little thoughts turn into bigger innovations. Such is the team comprising of 13 members of IIT Kharagpur. 13 students build a dream together and work on one goal, which itself is an example of team bonding, and team work. The project of i-Bike would not have been successful without each other’s support. Ayush Pandey shared this motivational story behind this wonderful and unique innovation with us in an interview.

Introduce yourself

My name is Ayush Pandey, I hail from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, where I completed my schooling before moving to IIT Kharagpur for a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. I have been on a great learning path since my childhood and this has only seen new heights at IIT Kharagpur; where I have met people with similar mindset. My family has played a huge role in motivating me towards pursuing education – out of my own interest and hard work, rather than learning with the greed of it’s outcomes (job, money etc.). Hence, I chose electrical engineering and its applications to robotics as my field of interest – something I always had passion about since childhood.

How did you guys think about this concept?

The environment is changing, and it is changing drastically. We need to do something to protect it as a responsible citizen of the world. However, very less people think about innovative ideas to improve the society. We started to realize the initiatives of environmental protection taken by countries like; Europe, USA, China, Canada, and Korea.

This will help to reduce the costs and efforts in the public transportation system as well. However, every process has its pros and cons. There are some loopholes in this initiative as well. For instance, people find it difficult to find the respective stations to pick a cycle and drop it.

We decided to closely focus on two main challenges that may be probed at the launch of our i-Bike. First, to reduce the infrastructure cost and carbon footprint used for the construction of these sharing stations and second, to consider the environmental issue in the society. In the midst of our discussion, we realize that there are no cut-edged solutions of a transport system that will involve physically disabled, especially blind and people with hand amputations. This was the base on which we structured our i-Bike concept.

Introduce your Team

Here is a list of our members who have made a remarkable presence in the subject of innovation:

• Ayush Pandey

• Subhamoy Mahajan

• Adarsh

• Dhananjay

• Aniket

• Vikas

• Shubh

• Aashay

• Hrishyank

• Sourabh Dash

• Arnab Mondal

• P NVamshi

• Himanshu Chaudhary

We all belong to separate subjects, but mainly deal in engineering. It was our dream to make other’s dream come true with something that could subside their physical challenges. Only then, we came with the unique concept of building an autonomous bicycle. This will enhance the lifestyle of people from the typical cycles and pollution creating vehicles to environment friendly cycles. It will mainly benefit those suffering from disabilities from driving.

What are the Technicalities and Advantages of i-Bike?

i-Bike is the model of a bicycle, which can be driven autonomously and also manually as per the requirement of the traveler. This will put less human efforts and more convenience to the person driving it. It is one of the most effective and innovative tools to accompany safe driving rules.

• The design of the bicycle is a modification to a normal bicycle, without compromising any of the natural functionalities. It is adopted by i-Bike’s exceptional Dual-Locomotion Technology.
• The amazing design and setup of the machinery ensures balancing of steering and brakes, followed by a few customized options to make cycling more independent and flexible.
• The parts and accessories of the bicycle are unique and economical. This will help to make its presence in the global and local market easier.
• This is a truly amazing device for those who have been only dreaming of cycling, but could not do so being physically challenged.

Our motivation is derived from various reasons.

• The very first reason was of course to give an improved driving experience to the disabled.
• The second main motive behind i-Bike is to let people lesser parking space along with an automatic driving rather just cycling experience.
• The major milestone behind launching this cycle is to change the transportation and travel costs in major urban cities.
• We also considered environmental factors very strongly. Our i-Bike is based on a three-way hybrid nature (manual + electric + autonomous) is ideal for bike-sharing systems – which could lead to huge profits and increase in bicycle usage throughout the world – leading to lower emissions and healthier society.

He further mentioned that -“The project has strongly grabbed the attention of many top-notch automobile companies like; Bosch, Volvo, Maruti Suzuki, and a few more.  Our product has gauged immense popularity in India and the team has been awarded for a sum of Rs. 5 lakhs at IIT Kharagpur. Moreover, the team succeeded all the challenges and competition winning a Gold Prize for the best product.”

What challenges did you face during the i-Bike journey?

The biggest challenge is to identify problems! This is applicable to life and to any other work that one is doing, i-Bike is a result of the same thing. We continuously identify problems. Solving the problem, once it is identified is not such a daunting task, as it might seem. This is exactly what we do while working on this autonomous bicycle. We brainstorm together to solve any problem, it is a team work – something that we have learned a lot on during the development of this i-Bike. We’ve faced many many different challenges (with varying degree of severity) while working on the i-Bike, but almost always one thing has been common in our approach for the solution – team work and hard work. Though it might seem trivial, but we actually never “give up”, before a problem is solved. This is possible once you attach yourself to the problem. Until it goes away, you do not give up. This is exactly how it works for us.

Read : 16 Years Old Girl’s Innovation, Indicator For Dead Landline Phones

What are the Future Plans ?

All the modifications and innovations made to turn current bicycles to i-Bike is a great boon to the transportation sector. i-Bike does not require any changes in the current infrastructure, rather it will reduce the need of constructing special bicycle stations. The location of i-Bike will be continuously tracked on the GPS system server. This will notify the station in-charge and prevent loss or theft of bike, making it more secured for people. It is an electronic improvement to the world of bicycles. The journey has not been easy for us either. But, with the help of team efforts and passion for engineering, we came up with a concept like i-Bike. We truly hope that the project is launched ASAP and reaches more number of people to make their life better.

The cost of the prototype is not more than Rs.30000/- and when measured, the manufacturing cost would be even lesser. If you take the current scenario of electric bikes, the cost varies from 35,000-50,000. Our technology will provide greener and more sustainable transport system.

We are glad and feel blessed to have got this thought of doing something for our society and will be continue to do so, for the benefit of our people. We urge you to see more updates from us on the project as and when posted on the web and request you to spread the benefits of i-Bike in your friend circles too. We hope that you would allow us to care for you and collectively think of ways where we can work together and make a better society to live in.