Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Sneak Peek: Industrial, Farm Security, Intrusion detection product - Hawkeye series from Ideas Unlimited

We have been working on many concepts for products based on Passive Infra Red Sensors. There is a huge potential for making useful applications because of the PIR sensors ability to detect living beings. We have been producing Movement Sensor Switches based on PIR sensors for Energy Saving applications with our MS101 and MS102  series products. We will continue to develop more energy saving applications.

Now, we are launching an entirely new product line called 'Hawkeye' series security product. With this, we are venturing into Industrial Security, Farm Security, perimeter/compound security and intrusion detection - security applications. The device keeps an eye on the installed area, and can switch on any kind of standard equipment (sirens, bright lamps) on noticing any living being movement.

Picture 1: The prototype of Hawkeye Intrusion Detection system.
The 'Hawkeye' industrial security system can drive any kind of standard 230V AC appliance as long as the total load does not exceed 600W.

Features of the product:
1. Detects living beings. (Humans, Animals etc)
2. Drives Standard security and alert devices (Ex: Halogen Lamps, Industrial Sirens etc) up to 600W
3. Reliable and has ultra-low standby power consumption.
4. Designed to work 24 X 7
5. Our design and software allows it to work even in outdoor environment during daytime in outdoor environment as long as direct sunlight doesn't fall on the sensor.
6. Compact Size! 125mm X 65 mm X 45 mm size
7. Designed to be installed by any electrician! 

Picture 2: Compact Size! The unit is much smaller than our MS101 Series External fit type Movement Sensor Switch.
Applications:

Industrial Security:
In a typical industrial security scenario the Hawkeye is connected to a Halogen lamp (150W-300W) and an Industrial Siren. On detecting an intruder the Hawkeye switches on the halogen lamp and siren. This deters the intruder and also alerts the security staff. These can be installed in industrial warehouses, godowns, industrial stores and at strategic and confidential information storage places of industrial and commercial buildings.

Picture 3: The 'Hawkeye' can drive standard, commercially available halogen lamps, Industrial Sirens and hooters etc.
The device can be armed by simply switching on power to it. It can be disarmed by switching off power to the device.

Farm Security and early warning:
Another scenario of using the device is in Farm security, where intrusion by any kind of animals (elephant, wild board herds) can be detected if installed at strategic points and the industrial siren can generate an early warning. We will be suggesting more innovative applications for use in farms as we progress with the product. 

Perimeter security, compound security and intrusion detection:
It can also be used for protecting strategic assets from intruders and in detecting intrusions within a perimeter or compound. These can also be used for intrusion detection in isolated residences in remote places.

On-going Further R&D:
We are also evaluating the sensor to try and see if it can detect snakes etc. Yet to complete testing and conclude results.
 For any product enquiries or other informatinal queries, contact sales@ideas-unlimited.in

Sneak Peek: Movement Sensor to control Air Conditioners in office cabins...

Taking further our product lines, we are hereby showing a sneak peek on the MS301 series Movement Sensor Switch (External Fit type) which can switch loads upto 2.2 kW. The prototypes shown in these pictures are undergoing field trials now and will be produced shortly. These switches can be used with most commercial Air conditioners (Split or otherwise) whose load does not exceed 2.2 kilo Watts.

The MS301 2.2kW Movement Sensor Switch prototype

Our earlier series of Movement Sensor Switches were designed for controlling for lower loads like lighting, fans etc.

MS101 Series - External fit type, upto 1000W

MS102 Series - Concealed fit type, upto 600W

Here we try to answer some commonly asked questions about the MS301 series.



Frequently Asked Questions:


Question1: Can I use it to control the air conditioner in my bedroom?

Answer: No, it is not designed for use in bedrooms... where avenues of energy savings are very low. It is instead designed to be used in office cabins with individual split air conditioners where energy savings potential is huge.

Question 2: What is the potential energy savings from using this in an office?

Answer: Consider a 2 kilo-watts rating air conditioner. Switching it off for an hour per day (when not in use) can save a potential of 2 units per day.... (This being a minimal 1 hour per day savings). This can save monthly approximately 60 units of power (Rs. 500 at commercial tarriff at the minimum) per month! In offices where there is potential of 2-4 hours savings on AC usage, per day and so the return on investment per month is very high between (Rs. 1000-2000 per month).

Question 3: Can it be used to switch any kind of load that is under 2.2 kW?

Answer: Yes! Though we cannot think of any energy saving in appliance other than Air conditioner for such a high load. Alternately it can be used to control lots of lightings in a public building etc (Say high wattage halogen lamps etc) as long as total load does not exceed 2.2kW.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

MOU with Indus Biomedical Devices for joint development of a medical device

03-Nov-2011: Indus Biomedical Devices and Ideas Unlimited have signed an MOU for joint development of a Medical Device. More updates on this later.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Ideas Unlimited recognized as 'In-house R&D Unit' by DSIR, Ministry of Science and Technology


Good News! Effective 25-Oct-2011, Ideas Unlimited is now recognized as an "In-house R&D Unit" by DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research), Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India! (Website: www.dsir.gov.in) The recognition is valid until 31-03-2013 after which it will be renewed after review. 


This is a very good achievement for us and a feather in our cap. This will certainly encourage us to endeavor into much more challenging technology developments in the future. 

We are grateful to the Scientists at DSIR for awarding us this recognition. We also thank all the people who have been associated with our company (Employees, Associates, Apprentices, External Partners) in our endeavors, working along with us to make our concepts into success.


Thursday, October 20, 2011

MIT Technology Review (Indian edition) published about our Movement Sensor and Braille Tutor

Movement Sensor Switch: MIT Technology Review magazine, (India edition) announces launch of our Movement Sensor Switch on their website.



Interactive Braille Tutor with Speech: In the October 2011 Issue of MIT Technology Review, Our Braille Tutor Product is also announced.

 Click above to view enlarged image.








Monday, October 17, 2011

16-Oct-2011: Indian Express: Mysore Makeover - Ideas Unlimited Featured in the story on Mysore




Indian Express carried a 2 page story on how Mysore is changing titled 'Mysore Makeover' on 16-Oct-2011 across the country. In this story, Ideas Unlimited is also featured!  


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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Ideas Unlimited products at Silicon India Digital Gadget Show, Bengaluru 01-Oct-2011

Ideas Unlimited will be showcasing its Movement Sensor Switch product line at the Silicon India Digital Gadget Show.





Venue: Nimhans Convention Center, Bengaluru (Link)
Date: Saturday, 01-Oct-2011

We will be having live demos of the Movement Sensor Switch line of products. Both the newly launched concealed fit and external fit type products will be on display. There will also be special offers just for the day.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Ideas Unlimited launches Concealed Fit type Movement Sensor Switch

We have just formally launched the concealed fit type Movement Sensor Switch products along with our existing external fit type Movement Sensors.

Product Availability: From last week of September 2011 
  
Just launched: Concealed fit type Movement Sensor Switch for false ceilings, RCC ceilings etc.
Features:
  • Ultra-compact design: 7cm X 7cm X 7cm excluding the mask
  • Upto 600W load handling capacity
  • Ultra-low standby current consumption (less than 100mW)
  • Product Variants: 3 types (Wide, Medium, Narrow), different sensing ranges
  • Full status indicators of functioning, with novel illumination
  • Front mask: Available in two themes. Green theme, Plain white 

Visit our website --> Products section to know full details and specifications of the product.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Dealers for Movement Sensor line of products in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Tamil Nadu


We now have dealers in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Tamil Nadu for our Movement Sensor Switch product line.

Madhya Pradesh, Vidisha/Bhopal Area


DAWNER ENERGY PVT LTD
4-A&B, Industrial Estate,
Pital Mill Square,
Sagar Road.
Vidisha (M.P) - 464002

Contact person: Mr. Rishi Jain
Telephone: 07592-250475, +91-9425149263
e-mail: rishi.jain@dawnerenergy.com
Website: www.dawnerenergy.com

Chhattisgarh, Raipur Area


DAWNER ENERGY PVT LTD
S-70, Sector-1 Extension,
Avanti Vihar,
Raipur (C.G)-492001

Contact person: Mr. Vikas Singh
Telephone: +91-8889820003
e-mail: vikas.gts@gmail.com
Website: www.dawnerenergy.com


Tamil Nadu, Salem Area



J. SUBBUSWAMI AIYAR AND SONS
For Quality And Value Added Services since 1925
"SRI SANKARA" 75/10-B,RAMAKRISHNA ROAD
SALEM-636007

Contact telephone: 0427-4030448/3295674/2312454
Fax: 0427-4030435
e-mail: vss@jairang.com
Website: www.jairang.com

We are further soliciting dealership inquiries from cities across India where we already don't have a dealer present. Please get in touch with this e-mail id: sales@ideas-unlimited.in if you are interested in dealership in cities where we already do not have a dealer appointed.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Braille Tutor concept becoming a formal product: Prototype 2

A couple of months ago we posted the prototype concept of a Brialle Tutor developed at Ideas Unlimited. The student team which developed it was short of time proved the concept, but it was still far off from being made into a product because of memory limitations and very limited sound storage.


Video of the Prototype 2 of Braille Tutor at work.


Video of the prototype field-tested at SVYM's (Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement) Community Rehabilitation Program output who work with blind people in Jayapura, HD Kote Road.

Now an Investor from Geneva (Rajesh Nair, working in Geneva, Switzerland), is funding this product in personal capacity to turn this concept into a product.  As a first step to making this into a formal product, in this Prototype-2, we have provided the Braille tutor with lots of memory to store audio files of multiple languages. Also the software has been streamline for good performance of both audio and the system as a whole.

Remote control with navigation and mode (Quiz/learn) selection buttons.



Tutor Unit: has six micro solenoids that create the braille characters


The product is useful for teaching of 'Pre-braille'  - teaching braille letters to young children, before their hands and fingers get trained to braille letters. The process of learning such pre-braille and getting used to the braille dots lasts about 2-3 months in the initial stages.With this product we also hope to reduce the learning time, along with reducing the operational difficulties in such teaching.

Tutor with its remote control.


This prototype has support for following braille characters supported along with recorded speech:
  1. Kannada (ಅ,ಆ ..... ಳ)
  2. English (A-Z)
  3. Numbers (0-9)
  4. Symbols
There are still many things to be done before this concept becomes a manufacturable product, like:

Add new and more language support in terms of medium of instruction. Current prototype teaches in Kannada medium.
  1. Design and build custom made solenoid to suit the application. None of the solenoids available seem to help much. 
  2. Build a Quiz mode where the tutor can help the blind student to assess (Quiz and Answer buttons on the remote don't work as of yet!)  
  3. Build a headphone interface for private operation without disturbing others.
  4. More features that can make this product useful in a typical blind school classroom.
We are actively looking for formal funding for this endeavor. We have already shown this product to some blind people who are in the domain of teaching braille to collect feedback. The feedback was encouraging for us to take this step to make it into a formal product.

Friday, August 12, 2011

DIY: How to build a 'Poor man's milling machine' using a drilling machine!

This is an interesting 'do it yourself' for all hobbyists and 'DIY' people out there.
Milling Machine: A machine tool in which a rotating cutter is moved against the workpiece (or vice versa) in order to cut the latter to a desired shape
Drilling machines are low cost and easy to procure.  But we still yearn to have at least a milling machine and maybe as a luxury a lathe in our workshops/garages...

The lowest costing table top Milling machines we have seen in the market is at least 60,000 Indian Rupees and perhaps a little more at today's inflation rate. Isn't the cost a big deterrent to have your own milling machine in your garage/workshop unless you are doing milling as a profession or doing tasks for production?



Youtube video showing the working machine

This is our attempt to convert a tower drilling machine we had into a functional milling machine! And it works! So far we have tested it on plastic, nylon and wood as raw materials and it did a fantastic job. We will be testing it on aluminum soon and post our findings here as well.

A plastic piece - slot made with poor man's milling machine.
How do I make one?
Here's a simple recipe of how to convert a tower drilling machine into a pretty good milling machine for your prototyping, hobby and fun work!

Ingredients:


1. A tower type drilling machine - one with a vertical spindle lock capability, and a heavier one preferably. Usually such tower drilling machines come with a belt drive with inverted pulleys of different sizes for speed control.

Important: The spindle of your drill should be absolutely vibration proof. It should also have a spindle lock capability. Preferably, buy a local made one, which are heavier compared to the sleek and less heavy imported ones.

Note: Most of these drilling machines come with 3-Phase AC motors. Exchange it with a single-phase motor with your vendor. (A 1/4 or 1/2 HP motor should do well for most hobby tasks!)

2. A 2-axis table - available off the shelf in the market.

You can get them in various table top sizes such as 6", 8", 10", 12" and so on. for reasonable costs. Make sure the 2-axis bed you buy doesn't have slack when you rotate its wheels.

3. A Low-profile drill vice. preferably buy a 5" or 6" open jaw vice so that you can hold large jobs.
There are a variety of drill vices available in the market. Just make sure it has adequate mounting facility and has a really low profile.



4. A suitable mounting plate. This is the only custom made part you will require to get it fabricated outside or make it yourself :-(.

We made our mounting plate from a piece of scrap metal from the Gujari (ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಗುಜರಿ = Junk yard).

Usually the bottom side plates of the tower drilling machines are not designed to mount off the shelf 2-axis tables. It does come with some slots for mounting large vices or job holding jigs, but may not match.

So you have to make a mounting plate that helps mount the 2 axis table firmly on the drilling machine.

5. Nuts and bolts - Off the shelf. For typical drilling machines for use in your hobby and R&D works, M8 bolts and nuts should do fine.
The recipe:
  1. Fasten the mounting plate to the drilling machine base. 
  2. Turn away the drilling table that comes along with the drilling machine to the back of the drilling machine. (This you can later use as the stand to keep a torch-light for illuminating your milling jobs!)
  3. Once the mounting plate is fastened, mount the 2-axis table on the plate. 
  4. Now fasten the drill vice to the 2-axis table using T-bolts. (We managed to do with ordinary bolts too!)
  5. Insert a milling cutter (end mill) in the chuck of your drilling machine...
  6. ....And it is ready!
  7. You will need to get used to setting the right RPM using the belt drive. (Your drilling machine comes with a reference chart). This is fairly easy and you will get it with some trial and error.
 The completed and working Milling Machine!

Feel free to write to us if you are interested in this concept or if you are planning to build one yourself!

And yes... cost of this setup is a lot less than those table top imported hobby.desktop milling machines!

Improvements to do: A 3-axis table if available in the market, one that can do up-down (Z) movements as well along with X and Y ! We couldn't locate it in a hurry.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Sneak Peek: Early prototype of concealed fit version of Movement Sensor

We have just completed an early prototype of a variant of Movement Sensor Switch for False ceilings and RCC cast ceilings. The RCC ceilings however will require a metal box similar to those used for lighting to be inserted into the ceiling before casting.



Early prototype of Concealed fit version of Movement Sensor Switch

We are now in the process of collecting user feedback and also miniaturizing this product. We are expecting to launch this to market formally by Mid-August 2011. We are also working on some sleek looking industrial design for this product as well. Keep watching for more on this!

Friday, July 15, 2011

Movement Sensor Switch featured in Magazines.

.Recently our Movement Sensor Switch product launch was announced in two leading electronic magazines in India.

 EFY Times, 20-Jun-2011: Featured the product


Electronics For You, July 2011: Announced the launch of Movement Sensor product range.


We are also prototyping  a concealed fit version which has a much smaller form factor and fits seamlessly into false ceilings and RCC Ceilings (RCC ceilings require insertion of metal enclosures into RCC roof before casting the roof) with a smaller form factor compared to our current products . Watch for update on this product shortly.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Movement Sensor Switch product line now available in Bengaluru region through our dealers

We have now appointed a dealer in Bengaluru area for our products. Neo Technologies Inc, will be providing sales and support for our Movement Sensor Switch line of products.

For any of your sales enquiries, or a demonstration of the product or to understand ROI (Return on Investment) calculation for installing the 'Movement Sensor Switch' product lines please get in touch with Neo Technologies contact information provided below.


Neo Technologies Inc
No. 81, kailasanagara
Venkatadri School Road
Konanakunte Cross
Bengaluru - 560 062

Contact: Mr. Some Gowda
Tel : +91-80-26860287
Mob : +91-99809-80029
E-mail: sales.neotechnologies@gmail.com

Monday, June 6, 2011

Change of company logo

We have embarked on a venture to launch a line of Home Automation products carrying the brand 'Ideas Unlimited'. So we have modified the company logo to suit branding on product lines.

Old Logo

New Logo

Nothing else has changed.We are still the same! Our website is also due for a major revamp, to showcase the products we have just taken to production. More announcements will follow. Watch this space for announcements on products.


Sunday, June 5, 2011

High Wattage DC Motor Speed Control Development platform

We have developed an IP to manage multiple high wattage DC Motors, with a control system fed with feedback from sensors to precise maintenance of speed under varying load conditions.


Demo software showing varying speed control from very low RPM to high RPMs in both directions

The design can drive up to 6 motors with the same hardware and control speed of all six with a software controller. The team who  developed this hardware used this for developing  a software based P-I-D control system. The same hardware can also be used for developing Fuzzy logic control as well.



The hardware for controlling high wattage DC motors

The application for this technology includes electric vehicles, automation (industrial and home) and it can also can be used in Mobile Robots.

The following students of Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering, Mysore were involved in the development of this hardware:
  1. Srinivas Ramesh
  2. Preetham Tenkila
  3. Preveen KS

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Concept: Braille Tutor with Sound playback support


Greetings! It has been a while since we posted an update on this blog. A few projects in progress and a few products going out kept us a little busy. But now we hope to provide regular updates.

The Braille system [Link: Wikipedia on Braille] is a method that is widely used by blind people to read and write, and was the first digital form of writing. Braille was devised in 1825 by Louis Braille, a blind Frenchman. Each Braille character, or cell, is made up of six dot positions, arranged in a rectangle containing two columns of three dots each.


The idea for this concept evolved by observing the training given to young blind children at a local blind school in Mysore. Conventionally blind children are given training using a wooden base plate with 6 slots and six marbles.Children who have not yet been introduced to braille are taught with this in a class where both the instructor and children are blind. Most of the time marbles get dropped and the children end up searching for them more than actually learning Braille. So this device was invented to help the training of blind students easy and faster.
Conventional Method of teaching Brialle. Wooden board and Marbles. Picture above shows Braille alphabet 'A'
Number '1' shown in braille using conventional teaching methods.
 The first version just had loud beeps to indicate next and previous characters. This version actually has Voice to speak out the character being shown by the solenoids. The device spells "A" and then sets the solenoids to show 'A".

This device uses six micro-solenoids with wooden beads mounted on top to create a braille impression. The beads are large in size so that it compares to the training methodology used in Blind schools in India. Along with solenoids, the device also has an in-built speaker with sound playback capability! Recorded PCM Audio is played back for each character before the solenoids pop up to show a particular Braille Character.

The Braille Tutor's Remote Control

The Braille Tutor Unit
A simple and user-friendly remote has been designed to make one hand operation (left hand at that) possible while right hand is free to feel the braille character by the blind student. Remote provides following buttons for navigation.
  1. Next Character (A --> B --> C ... )
  2. Previous Character (D --> C --> B ...)
  3. Home (First letter in language)
  4. End (Last letter in language)
  5. Language change (Supports Kannada, English, Numbers and Symbols as of now). 
This concept has been realized by the following students of SJCE with lab and technical support  from Ideas Unlimited:





Chaithra V Shweta
Subramanyam
Apoorva P Akshata
Puranik
Our next update on this blog will be on GeOS-1M GLONASS Navigation Module from Geostar Navigation Design Bureau - who have provided us with one sample GeOS-1 GLONASS module and dev kit for evalutation.

    Friday, February 4, 2011

    Touch enabled Graphical User Interface

    This demo showcases a touch screen enabled GUI written from the scratch, which is lightweight, responsive and can be adapted for use in any kind of application.The GUI is completely proprietary and implements the good things found in a touch interface.


    We are excited to put up this demo finally. This project has been 'Work in Progress' for last several months and will continue to be under development for a few more months. We have an early Alpha testing going on now. This Touch enabled Graphical User Interface designed for a standard Monochrome Graphic LCD module with resistive touch screen available in market.





    The software runs on a '8-bit microcontroller' @16 MHz. We have some neatly optimized software built on it. In this alpha release we have standard GUI controls like buttons, text boxes etc that are demoed in the video.

    The 'idea' behind this project was to build a generic touch enabled user interface that is easy to use, low cost and it can be adapted as the primary user interface for any kind of small and medium sized control applications. It can be adapted for control panels for consumer electronic products, industrial systems, CNC systems or just any system that requires a reasonably complex set of parameters to be managed on a user interface.

    It can also be used in complex remote controls of remote controlled systems.

    The software is written modular enough to be adapted for any other LCD module as well with some effort. We are also working on a similar idea that uses a TFT Color LCD along with touchscreen. It will be however a few more months before we can put up a demo on this blog.

    We are open to any enquiries to adapt this system for your control panel needs for products and we provide both design and manufacturing support for systems designed by us. Feel free to contact with further enquiries on this concept using this e-mail id. 

    Saturday, January 1, 2011

    Embedded Web Server Concept for Industrial/Home Automation

    Greetings for a prosperous and Happy New Year 2011! It has been a busy 2010 and here is to hoping for a more exciting 2011!

    We have been busy last year getting some basic infrastructure ready for our Automation related endeavors. Keeping in line with the earlier peeks and posts on automation, here is the next installment of what we have been working on.

    This video below shows an Embedded Web Server. It is a small, low power consumption device that serves as a WEB SERVER (you can connect to it from your regular browser) and can be used in Industrial and Home Automation applications. It is a very simple demo, just enough to demonstrate the concept of embedded web server.

    Demo of Embedded Web Server at Work:




    The Embedded Web Server is implemented on a generic off-the-shelf Embedded Ethernet Development kit, using freely available TCP/IP stack and HTTP server open source software. The software has been adapted for the specific purpose of Home automation in this demo. We also utilizing it for industrial automation applications.


    Possible Applications of Embedded Web Server:

    1. Industrial Automation: Near real time monitoring of large number of parameters in an industrial environment. Ethernet allows fairly long distances of cabling to be done. A Web Server (embedded) in this scenario can connect to the process/manufacturing equipment and can provide data to a central control/monitoring station at lower costs.

    2. Home Automation: For the ultimate geeks, how about controlling and monitoring all the lighting, fans, geysers in your home from a web browser from anywhere? :-)

    For further details click here. For any product design/technology related queries e-mail us. You can find out contact info at our website http://www.ideas-unlimited.in

    VIjaya Karnataka report on Project Pratinava (Silo) designed, Built and deployed by Ideas Unlimited

    Reported on 18-Aug-2018. This report appeared in Vijaya Karnataka, Kannada language newspaper on 17-Aug-2018. Two other companies base...