Koramangala Club’s mixed bag of projects

Be it community service, cleanliness drive, trekking or extending a platform for the startups, the Rotaract Club of Koramangala (RACK), D 3190, has joined hands with Rotaractors of other clubs and like-minded groups to organise such projects on a grand scale. In one such initiative, 28 Rotaractors including 17 from RACK donated footwear, library books, stationery items and hosted a range of entertainment activities involving children at a government primary school in Byragondlu, 90 km from Bengaluru.

While the project was implemented as part of community service, it also marked Children’s Day with awareness skits being staged on topics such as substance abuse, food wastage, water conservation, child labour, Swachh Bharath and mobile phone addiction. “We donated over 50 pairs of shoes to the students. The village head and the elderly appreciated our efforts. As a token of thanks, we had an awesome village food and a guided visit to the nearby locale,” said Club President R Ravi Kumar.

Encouraging startups

With the aim to tap the creative potential of engineering students and open a window of opportunity for the startups, RACK partnered with Workbench Projects to organise the Maker Faire Bengaluru, a two-day exhibition of product prototypes on the Palace Grounds in the city.

The fair, supported by government agencies like NITI Aayog, GoI’s Department of Science and Technology and the State machinery, had prototypes in diverse fields including robotics, space projects and rocketry, food processors, electronics and electric vehicles, textile arts, vintage computers and gaming systems, alternate shelters, and unusual tools and machines, all developed by students.

Of the 22 projects nominated by the club, seven made it to the shortlisted 100 final exhibits that included coir fibre reinforcement, ultra-energy efficient vehicle, advanced teaching automation, autonomous underwater vehicle, racing Go-Kart vehicle, electric bike and low-cost security system. “We are happy that Mumbai-based venture capitalist Intel Accelerators have evinced interest in developing two of our recommended projects — teaching automation and security ­system — and will be investing `25 lakh initially for each project,” said Shubham Gaur, Secretary, RACK.

The club arranged for the visit of 150 students to the tech exhibition which was a “great learning opportunity for them to know about the emerging technologies across multiple domains which were developed and designed by their fellow students from different colleges.”

Trekking cum cleanup

In another event, what began as an excursion to the Savandurga Hills, 60 km from Bengaluru, turned out to be a cleanup endeavour for the 16 Rotaractors of the club. The monolith hill is frequented by pilgrims and tourists. The team collected 10 bags of plastic waste and other garbage. “The locals appreciated our effort in cleaning the area atop the hill. We didn’t mind climbing down with heavy garbage bags,” recalls Ravi Kumar.