Lucknow: Five school students from Uttar Pradesh have been named winners under the INSPIRE Awards-MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge), a Department of Science and Technology (DST) programme that supports student-led innovation and problem-solving.Lucknow’s Abhinanjay Pandey, a Class 9 student, was selected for an adaptive passive speed breaker that uses a non-Newtonian fluid sealed inside a flexible tube. The design changes resistance based on the speed and force of a vehicle passing over it. “When the speed is less, then the breaker will not produce any unwanted jerk, but with high speed, the breaker will give jerk to the commuters,” he said.From Muzaffarnagar, Class 6 student Aalaukik Shirushwal won for inventing ‘suraksha tongs’ for safer handling of hot cookware. The tongs include a circular loop that hooks onto a vessel’s brim to bear weight, a metal plate to improve grip and a rubber-insulated ergonomic handle to reduce strain. “These tongs will solve the problem of burn injuries that take place every year due to accidental spills while handling heavy hot vessels using unreliable, slippery cloth grips,” she said, adding that they could help caterers, event cooks and households.Class 8 student Divyansh Kashyap from Auraiya was recognised for the ‘Wet Umbrella Holder Yantra’, designed to store wet umbrellas and prevent water from dripping onto floors. He said the idea came after he saw a classmate slip in a classroom where a wet umbrella had been left to drip. The device collects rainwater to keep indoor spaces dry and reduce the risk of falls. “The collected water can then be reused for various purposes, such as watering potted plants and lawns,” he said.From Farrukhabad, Class 7 student Dakshina Singh developed ‘FOOT-O-FIT’, a semicylindrical ergonomic footrest aimed at encouraging movement during prolonged sitting. It incorporates a rocking mechanism, acupressure dots and an electronic system that tracks soleus push-ups, pulse count, estimated calorie burn and active and inactive time.Rampur’s Shubh Aggarwal, a Class 10 student, won for a smart LPG leakage detection and automatic shut-off system using a Wi-Fi module, gas sensor and servo motor. “Whenever gas leakage is detected, the servo motor rotates to turn off the regulator knob, while an alert message is sent to the concerned person’s mobile phone,” he said.
