Head-Controlled Computer Mouse by LEADer Shadab

LEADer Shadab from NTTF College Belur invented the "Head Mouse". Shadab reasoned that some people with developmental and locomotive disabilities cannot use their hands to operate a computer mouse. In this project, he developed a hands-free computer mouse that moves the cursor according to the movement of our head.

The clicks and double clicks are obtained by breadth inputs. It uses an accelerometer and gyroscope fixed in the mouse to track the movement of the users head with I2C communication. This data is then used by a onboard micro-controller to analyze the motion of the user. This then communicates the computer-wired (bluetooth)/ wirelessly (user preference) and moves the cursor via serial communication. The mouse uses a microphone to get users breath inputs in the form of blows to analyses the breath to be left click, right click, double click or scroll. The mouse then sends the cursor and click data to computer either via Bluetooth or via USB Cable.

Scientifically, head movements have 6 degrees of freedom. An accelerometer cannot alone track all the 6 degrees of freedom, but only is limited to 4 degrees of freedom. Coupling a gyroscope with it adds another 2 Degree of freedom. This realization overcame one of the major challenges Shadab faced in designing the head mouse.

While this project is still in developmental phase, it is a great example of combining skills learned in college with a social project that could have a big impact in the lives of others.

Educational Trip for Poor Children by LEADer Saibindu and Shashidhar

Children getting off the bus in Hampi

Without any resources, destitute children lack to ability to explore and learn about the world around them. LEADers Saibindu and Shashidhar from Veerashaiva College wanted to give the opportunity to these children to do that which they would otherwise never get the chance.

Saibindu and Shashidhar took 42 children from the destitute children home in Bellari to the historical town and sites of Hampi. After getting permission from the home, teaching themselves all the key information about Hampi historical sites to teach to the students, they transported the students to Hampi in a bus they rented with funding from LEAD.

LEADers with some of the teachers
and children

This one-of-a-kind project made the children so happy and excited, all while learning about the different temples and ruins in Hampi and seeing the Hospet Dam. They were able to experience travelling to visit a very famous place, and the LEADers felt very proud that they were able to help the children forget about their poverty and sadness for even one day, and hopefully motivate them for future.

There were no doubt challenges, including receiving all the appropriate permissions as well as ensuring the safety of the children and getting tickets for the monuments for each one. However, the LEADers and children both thoroughly enjoyed the day and learned a lot.

Media coverage of the project

New Agricultural Techniques Awareness with LEADer Harish D

LEADer Harish D from Veershaiva College Bellary realized that there were many new agricultural machines, innovations, and subsidy programs, but without awareness, farmers were unable to take advantage of them. Harish took it upon himself to share this information with the farmers, and inspired his fellow leaders to join him in his awareness campaign.

Media coverage of the project

Harish conducting information
sessions for farmers

Harish and his team held information sessions in villages, 

spreading awareness to over 600 farmers in total. Not only did the team inform the farmers of the new techniques and programs, but encouraged and helped them to take advantage. With the help of Harish and his team, 7 farmers (with help from 45 others) received a commercial loan to purchase new innovative farming equipment, in which the farmers received a discount of 14 lacs on the equipment. In total, 50 farmers benefitted from this new equipment. Another farmer, with information from Harish, purchased 2 buffalo and one cow to improve his farming. 

One challenge for the group was to gather the farmers in one place to do the information session. They know it would take significant time to share the information door-to-door, so with the help of a few local people, the team went around to invite the farmers to a central location. Harish also found it challenging to convince the bank to offer low-interest loans to the farmers. Many of the farmers had limited history with banking, and therefore both the banks and farmers were hesitant.

Harish and team receiving award at
 Yuva Summit 2016

For this project, Harish won a Best Leader Award at Yuva Summit 2016, receiving it onstage in front of a crowd of over 4000 from Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. John Deere Bellary also appreciated Harish for his work getting their innovative equipment to the farmers who need it most. 

My Story: Manjunath Gogi

My Story

Manjunath Gogi, KLEIT Hubballi

Hi, I am Manjunath Gogi. I began my LEAD journey in the November of 2012 and since then it has been a constant learning experience of over 3 years. When I think about how it all began, the first thing that strikes me is that I was always passionate and involved about my technical ideas and wanted to work with them. However, the urge to join LEAD arose only after I began watching my enthusiastic friends who stayed busy with different LEAD projects. Soon I joined LEAD and got a good platform from where I could pitch my ideas and also could get involved in the social issues. After joining LEAD, over time my ideas and thoughts over the various issues, my perspective to see things and eventually my mindset at large has changed.

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I have done three social projects in LEAD and out of these three; I would like to talk about one. It is about giving security helpline number to women. I believe that women should be always respected and seeing them getting eve teased and harassed bothered me. I wanted to do something. So I took a step and launched my first project ‘Women Security Protocol’. I talked to a women association near my home about my idea and intention behind this project and they agreed to help me out. The women from the association gathered on the 8th of March 2013, the International Women’s Day. On the very day, with the help of these women and the police authorities, I re-launched a security helpline number for the women in the area of Navanagar. This would not have been possible if the women association, Mr. H.D. Kulkarni (C.P.I. of Navanagar Police Station) and Mr. I.M. Dundasi (P.S.I of Navanagar Police Station) had not supported, encouraged and stood by me. The helpline number is 0836-2233512.

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At Talaash 2014 with LEAD Functional Head Mr. Ajay Suman Shukla

My biggest accomplishment in my LEAD journey has been starting Talaash. Having a dream is not a big deal but achieving it is what matters!  I wanted to organize a technical event and came up with the idea ‘TALAASH’. The event was meant for the students pursuing engineering and diploma course. The participants were required to prepare a prototype model and the best innovative and commercial viable projects will get seed capital for its execution. The main motto of the event was to transform the student into an entrepreneur using his or her own idea.   It was both my biggest dream as well as challenge. Since it was being organized for the first time, I faced many setbacks at the beginning but with the help of my mentors and my teammates I came through those setbacks and achieved success. I started alone but later a lot of people joined me one by one and we had a great team at the end. The biggest challenge was still to get the sponsorship.

Amidst many negative responses, the first positive response came in form of Mr. Sasishekar Krish (Founder and CEO, nanoPix) who agreed to sponsor the event with Rs. 1.5 Lakhs. It brought a new zeal within me and helped me to move forward. I began working harder. Later on I approached Dr. B.S. Anami, the Principal of my college with our LEAD coordinator Madhumati Madam and my principal agreed to host the event in our college. Thus, my college became hosting partner of our event ‘TALAASH’ and we finally ended up raising a sponsorship of Rs.177,500/-.

Thereafter, our next milestone was to get registrations of 50+ projects. At the beginning, we had only 10 registrations which made us worried. But later on with the help of Dr. B.S Anami, we finally reached 57 registrations from the different parts of the state.

TALAASH '14 gave a good platform to over 225 students, and also venture capital of Rs. 40,000 to two projects, Rs. 25,000 to two more projects and Rs.15, 000 to one more project.

Finishing the event successfully was not the end for me, it was the starting step which made me test my abilities to the extinct. I started working with the winning teams of Talaash’14 and helped them to start their company. Now, that winning team named CAKEBOARD has already started their company. (www.cakeboard.in)

On stage with the judges at Talaash 2015

The success of Talaash ’14 triggered me to start it again. Team TALAASH and I started it again. This time we aimed for a bigger target; 4 times larger than Talaash’14... and we successfully reached the target! Even this time, Mr. Sasishekar Krish (Founder and CEO, nanoPix) sponsored for the prize money, which was Rs. 3,00,000/- total.

TALAASH had received 200 applications/ideas from 23 different cities and 37 different colleges’ across Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Greater Noida, Delhi, Maharashtra, and Telangana. Out of 200, top 85 ideas were shortlisted for the second round, and the top 30 teams were further selected to showcase their prototype in the final event on 7th May at KLEIT, Hubballi.

Top 3 Ideas were chosen among all the presented ideas. They were awarded with a seed fund of Rs. 1,00,000/- each from nanoPix Company and incubation support from Deshpande Foundation’s Sandbox Startups. 

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At LEAD Prayana 2015

Through LEAD, I have had many other great opportunities. I have taken part in LLP 2014 and LEAD Prayana 2015. My experience in LLP in 2014 helped me get the idea for Talaash, and then in Prayana in 2015, I got the motivation to execute it. Both of these LEAD opportunities were amazing, but in different ways. LLP was very helpful for me in terms of skills development, and Prayana was immensely inspiring!

At Yuva Summit 2016, I was a speaker at LEAD Talks and shared my leadership story with the crowd of 500 attendees, including my peers and special guests. It was my first experience doing major public speaking, and it was a tremendous learning opportunity for me.

Speaking at LEAD Talk, Yuva Summit 2016

International Womens Day 2016: "Recognizing the Unrecognized"

Women work without a break for their families, society, and friends all through the year. So, on IWD 2016, LEAD conducted their 3rd annual "Recognizing the Unrecognized", where women in our society who are rarely recognized but are responsible for important work were recognized for their contributions, such as cleaning railway stations, bus stands, picking household trash, selling vegetables etc. LEAD and LEADers believe that, without these women, our communities would come to a standstill.

LEADers from each location of LEAD voluntarily took up the initiative to identify and appreciate these women on the occasion of International Women’s Day. After identifying these unrecognized women in their communities, the LEADers made personal visits to their homes and workplaces to thank them for their contributions and presented a certificate of gratitude they personally signed.

In total, 347 students recognized 30,245 women in honour of International Women’s Day, thanking them for their contributions to society that otherwise go unnoticed. AMAZING work by our LEADers!

Students noted that this project helped them improve their communication skills and confidence, as each LEADer approached and spoke to hundreds of women from all different professions, backgrounds, statuses, and levels of education. 

LEADers from Hubballi Sandbox recognizing local security women

LEADer from Ek Soch Sandbox (Varanasi) and LEAD Functional Head Ajay Suman Shukla
recognizing a working mother

LEADers from Kakatiya Sandbox (Nizamabad) recognizing a local shopkeeper

Initiative by DSF Fellows

“The happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others...”
Gordon B. Hinckley

The DSF 10 A Fellows who believed in the above quote did their best to serve the society. With their clear purpose of serving the needy, they visited an orphanage. They observed the orphanage and interacted with the children over there. They also conducted few activities to children. During their interaction, they observed that children at orphanage where in need of school bags.
 

This extreme necessity of school bags motivated the DSF fellows to take an initiative. They took up a challenge of raising funds to buy school bags. They visited shops in Vidhyanagar and other areas of Hubli and collected funds for the noble cause from shops and houses. Through this process, they succeeded in raising 6000 rupees.

With the collected amount they bought school bags and distributed it to 35 students with a cultural program. The students were delighted with the kind gesture of DSF Fellows. The little children were all smiles and thanked DSF Fellows for their concern towards them.

Deshpande Foundation Koutilya Fellows Collect 700 books for the community

“You cannot open a book without learning something.”

-Confucius

Deshpande Foundation’s Koutilya Fellowship Cohort 7F, 8, and 8A Fellows took the initiative (on November 16th, 2014) to collect unused books from people's homes to be utilized as resources for students, staff, and other people who would better appreciate them. Many people have neglected books in their homes, and these 70 Fellows thought that these books should be collected to be better used by the community. They organized themselves into groups and went to colleges, hostels and homes around Vidyanagar and Ashya Colony) on the hunt for unused books. After facing challenges such as difficulties convincing people, and even a home dog attack, they strived on their leadership and teamwork and managed to collect 700 books in only 6 hours. Fuelled by their success, they are aiming to collect 2,000 books next time.

Koutilya Fellows raise Rs.1,38,600 for students in need

Deshpande Foundation’s Koutilya Cohort 7 Fellows know the importance of higher education and the power it has to open gateways in people’s lives, but they also know about the numerous barriers there are for underprivileged people trying to get an education. They wanted to make the lives of these people a bit easier and utilize the LEAD platform, so they got permission from the Hubli-Dharwad police commission and then went around the city of Hubli to fundraise. In only one day, these 139 fellows raised Rs. 1,38,600, which they used to purchase school supplies such as books, pens and dictionaries, to give to underprivileged people who are eager to study. 1,300+ high school and primary school students ( from the city of Hubli as well as its rural surroundings) benefited from this project, and the fellows are looking to help another 3,000 in the future. Throughout this project, the fellows were  motivated by the idea that:                                                   
                                                                                                                   
       “every youth should take initiative in this present society then only we can change our country.”

Hubli LEADer Teaches Slum Children for 10 Months, Sends 3 to English Medium School

LEADer Shruti Kamble of KLEIT, Hubli, has strong English skills, and she recognized that knowing English in today’s globalized world is a necessity.  However, learning English can be challenging and expensive and poor children, especially those who live in slums, usually get left behind.  She wanted to help the children from slum areas learn English so that she could give them a better future.  She and her Co-LEADer, Marcia,  and coordinated with the Smart Kids Education Trust in Hubli and made arrangements to teach one-hour English and math sessions, three times a week, to 20 students between 1^st and 9^th Standard.  She has continuously taught these children from the past 10 months, even during her exams. Shruti is proud to say that three of the children that she taught have built up their English skills so much that they are now attending an English medium school. 

For this project, Shruti was awarded the “Best Project of Education Promotion” award at the LEAD Valedictory, Hubli ceremony in May of 2013.  Her project was also showcased during Yuva Summit 2014.

Hubli LEADer Implements Groundwater Recharge Plant to Save Water

With growing urbanization, the demand for drinking water in cities is soaring.  Rainfall is not always enough to replenish these underground freshwater resources.  As a result, urban cities are now facing the risk of water stress.  LEADer Naveen HP from BVBCET wanted to protect this from happening in Hubli.  He conducted a survey of groundwater levels in Hubli and the surrounding areas.  Naveen presented his results to the SRDS, who then supported him in implementing a groundwater recharge plant in Hallikeri. 

Hubli LEADer Dreams of Better Vision for a Better India

People who live in slum areas rarely have the resources to receive proper medical attention, and even when they do get an opportunity to check up on their health, very few people focus on eye care.  LEADer Pratiksha of KLEIT, Hubli, wanted to improve the eye health of people living in slum areas.  With collaboration and support from Vasan Eye Care, Pratiksha conducted an eye testing camp in Vasantnagar, Keshwapur, Hubli.  For two days, Pratiksha gathered people from throughout six different areas and convinced them to attend the camp.  Pratiksha's eye testing camp helped 203 people get their eyes checked free of charge.  In addition, people were offered a 10% discount for eye treatments and 5% discount for surgery. 

Hubli LEADer Helps Police Protect Themselves

One duty of the police is to protect civilians through the regulation of traffic by standing at traffic signals.  But while the police are serving us, they are putting themselves at risk for contracting major respiratory health problems due to the dust and air pollution caused from exhaust.  LEADer Mahesh Koujalagi from JG College of Commerce, Hubli, wanted to help the traffic police.  He approached 50 traffic police, gathered them at the Central Traffic Police Station, and gave them a seminar about the health risks associated with breathing polluted air.  In addition, Mahesh distributed masks to 150 traffic police.  Mahesh believes that precaution is better than a cure, and his project has done just that!

LEAD Cultural Fiesta Raises Rs. 15K for Orphanage in Hubli

From October 12th to 13th, 2013, hundreds of spectators gathered at the Deshpande Foundation to watch as college students performed and competed for a cause. With the slogan, "Let Your Talent Scream Aloud", LEAD Cultural Fiesta provided a platform for college students to showcase their talents and entertainment for the local community, all while raising money for the Sneha Sadana Orphanage in Hubli.

LEAD Fiesta was organized by Legacy, a group of LEAD students from Fatima College. LEADer James was the head organizer. The two-day event consisted of three main competitions: Alabanzo Dancing, Drohnen (music concert), and Mimodrame (mime act).  The competitions featured solo, duet, and group acts, adding a degree of diversity and engagement.

A grand total of Rs. 15,000 was raised from the event.  Rather than simply donating the money to the orphanage, the students have decided to purchase much-needed materials for the 60 children of the orphanage.

The success of LEAD Cultural Fiesta shows just what can happen when students and communities come together with a common goal. 

My Story: Manoj Barigali

Manoj Barigali (SKSVMACET, Laxmeshwar)

 

Before joining LEAD, I can say, with certainty, that I was in the darkness because I hadn’t reached my potential.  I especially struggled with communication.  After having completed three projects and winning an award for “Best Active Coordinator” at LEAD Valedictory in May of 2013, I now confidently consider myself as a real leader.

Each project I have completed has further inspired me to improve upon my leadership qualities. The project I am most proud of is my Health Camp Checkup at Old Age Home. I was concerned about the treatment that elderly people were receiving at old age homes, The elderly were not experiencing a homely environment. We all know that our dear parents are the main backbone of our life. As we grow older, we neglect them, which leads them to live in a home called an "old age home". After parents move into an old age home, their children won’t come back to see them. To help with this, I organized a health checkup camp at an old age home called Shanthi Dhama that houses 40 elderly people.  My health camp provided medicine to help people with serious diseases such as Diabetes, high blood pressure, and Gangrene.

Additionally, I convinced several of the families to relocate their elderly family members back to their homes. I decided to further my personal development by taking on the responsibility of Student Coordinator for LEAD at my college. As Coordinator, I help younger LEAD members generate new project ideas, discuss potential obstacles, and come up with a way to overcome these obstacles. I then will provide whatever support is required to help the students implement their projects.

Since becoming active in LEAD, I can now easily approach people, communicate messages to them, and convince them of my perspective. From balancing my roles as a LEADer, LEAD Student Coordinator, and an engineering student, I have been able to develop my handling capacity; namely, my time management and organizational skills. Being in LEAD has really helped me change. It means a lot to me because LEAD always gave me good encouragement and supported me with everything that I did

"Best Out of Waste" Competition Instills Creative and Environmental Consciousness In 40 Children

In today's society, accumulating waste has become a serious environmental threat.  One way to solve this problem is to find new uses for old waste.  This approach, however, requires creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.  BVBCET LEADer Medha Hege took advantage of her LEAD platform to instill this creative, and necessary, mindset within young children.  She visited Seva Student Home for Boys and conducted a competition among the children for creating "best out of waste", eco-friendly models.  40 boys participated in the competition.

KLEIT LEADer Conducts Blood Donation Camp; 102 Students Donate

Blood is essential for saving lives in medical emergencies, but blood scarcity due to decreased blood donation is becoming a serious threat.  LEADer Yashwini from KLEIT collaborated with KIMS Blood Bank to conduct a Blood Donation Camp at her college.  At the Blood Donation Camp, 125 students checked their blood and 102 students donated blood.   Because of Yashwini's initiative, 100 lives will be saved in the future.

 

 

My Story: Bharath Hanamaraddi

 Bharath Hanamaraddi (KLEIT, Hubli)

What sets me apart from other students at my college is that I have taken the responsibility of leading 25 of my college peers and overseeing their initiatives, while ensuring that teamwork and coordination is continuously fostered among them.  In November of 2012, I was elected as the first President of the KLEIT LEAD Cell, which was the first student-led LEAD governing body.    

The idea to start a LEAD Club came about in October of 2012.  KLEIT LEAD students had collaborated and worked with each other on several projects.  After successfully working together to implement Sai Prakash Rao’s project, Diwali with Orphans and Old Age People, in which we fundraised over Rs. 5,000, we found that we work well together and possessed similar ways of thinking, and that we could capitalize on our excellent teamwork ability to enhance the success and outreach of future LEAD projects.  

The KLEIT LEAD cell consists of 25 members, but our team hopes to eventually expand to 50 members.  The members have been assigned to teams or committees based on their own personal interests and availability.  The LEAD government is composed of Financial, Scouting, Documentation, and Logistics Teams, as well as Advisory, Planning, and Deputy Committees.  The Financial Team is responsible for collecting all approved project funds, creating a budget, and redistributing the funds to projects, based on need, prior to their implementations.  The Scouting Team is responsible for scouting and recruiting good leaders.  The Documentation Team Is responsible for documenting and preparing reports on Leaders, projects, and leaders’ academic performance.  The Logistics team handles all logistic arrangements and coordination for KLEIT projects and events.  

As the President of the KLEIT LEAD Cell, I am responsible for maintaining enthusiasm within the group, mentoring students on their projects, advertising and branding LEAD at the college, and communicating with the college Principal and faculty members.  

By taking on such an active leadership role in the KLEIT LEAD Cell, I have improved a lot within myself.  LEAD has given me many opportunities to help me understand and practice team and people management, patience, and interpersonal communication.   my LEAD experience has given me public and media exposures and many networking opportunities, which will benefit me personally and professionally.  Everything I’ve learned has come by way of experiential learning provided by the LEAD Program.  Ultimately at the end of the day, LEAD really builds your character.

In addition to the development and changes that LEAD has helped me catalyze within myself, I really admires LEAD for how it is changing other students. LEAD is one such organization that finances you without taking any guarantee from you…it is the only organization that provides you with financial support by just raising your hand.  It gives the same opportunity to everybody, and it provides a big platform to serve for social causes.

My Story: Navin Kumar

Navin Kumar (SKSMACET, Laxmeshwar)

"Think different. Do different. Bring difference." 

I joined LEAD during my 5th semester.  In my first project, LivSmart, my team and I provided career guidance to 600 students in schools near Navalgund.  Energized by this success, I decided to implement another project that would benefit a local blind school.  After interacting with the children and the teachers from the school, I came to know about the challenges students face while learning Braille.  Braille is an essential skill for visually impaired students to learn, though it is also a very difficult task to learn.  To learn Braille, one must memorize various patterns of keys assigned for different letters, words, and symbols, in order to read and write efficiently.

Being an engineering student, I knew that I possessed the technical knowledge to create something innovative that could benefit a social cause as well.  So, I set myself to work.  After several months of dedication, trial, and error, I designed and created the Electronic Progressive Braille Learning Kit.  

My Braille Learning Kit facilitates the Braille learning process and assists students with the more difficult stages of Braille learning.  The Braille Learning Kit helps students of all educational levels by allowing them to feel a character while simultaneously reading the character aloud to them.  

The unique nature of my Braille Learning Kit qualified me to compete in Intel’s Next Big Idea 2013 Competition, in which I competed against over 6,000 business plans proposed by experienced business professionals from throughout India.  My business plan to market the Braille Learning Kit made it to the Top 10.

LEAD showed me that a small idea lit by a matchstick can be taken to a greater extent.  Similarly, my very small idea has taken me to a great extent.  LEAD stands for LEaders Accelerating Development.  LEAD has accelerated me to this level.  By exposing me to social issues, LEAD inspired me to create a useful project that meets a social need.  

In the future, you will see me at the top.  I am confident in that. 

LEADer Sends Village Children Back to School

LEADer Bhojraj from Anjuman Degree College, Dharwad, identified an education problem in the village of Daddikamalapur.  He had noticed that the village had many children who were not regularly attending school.  To solve this problem, Bhojraj visited the local government school and requested a database, which included a list of the children who had dropped out of school.  Bhojraj and his team approached the parents of the seven children who had dropped out of school, and spoke to them about the value of education.  Because of Bhojraj's project, those children are now regularly attending school.  Bhojraj has continued to follow up with these children to make sure that they stay in school.  In addition, he has plans to conduct a cultural activity in order to create further interest in education within the children.

Deshpande Foundation Hosts IT Training Session for Dharwad LEADers

33 students participated from Anjuman Degree College, Dharwad, participated in an IT training session hosted by the Deshpande Foundation.  The session exposed students to important programs and functions.  Students learned basic knowledge of Microsoft Word and how to create professional documents.  Students also learned how to create email IDs, as well as the principles of effective and professional emailing.  Finally, students learned about important social networking sites such as Facebook, and their relevance in today's globalized world.  The world today is highly dependent on technology, and without a proper knowledge of how to use technology, one runs the risk of falling behind.  This IT session gave many students technical exposure that they had never before been given, and they were very appreciative for all that they learned.