Virtual Experiment Farms
I hope that this SP Jain School’s effort gives impetus to such broad initiatives into business ventures. With the emerging Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Technologies, and Virtual Experiment Farms, engineers will be fully conversant with a variety of technology systems and components. I posted my concept of Virtual Experiment Farms on Facebook.
Here is the SP Jain School news.
SP Jain School of Global Management rolls out virtual labs in emerging technologies
By Brinda Dasgupta, ET Bureau|
Dec 12, 2017, 01.39 AM IST
[…]
In our college days, we used to conduct scores of experiments on engines. But, we gained little knowledge about the basics, design, manufacture, and maintenance of engines. This practice is repeated by several other labs (e.g. hydraulic machines, strength of materials, and so on). With over two thousand engineering colleges in India, the same process is still repeated.
In practice, when one goes to the major manufacturers, one will find that the engines are in test cells and the experiments are conducted from outside the cells via computer and communication equipment. The knowledge and skill required is in setting the experiments, which the Indian engineering colleges do not teach at all. Students are not even allowed to play with old machines by disassembling and assembling them.
I believed that a handful of experiments with remote machines equipped with cameras to view them and Internet connection to remotely operate them and test data taken by students from their own locations would help. In order for students to gain deep knowledge of machines, there should be old machines available for them to play with. Students should be given training in how to build test setups.
With a handful of Virtual Experiment Farms with a number of machines equipped for remote testing, thousands of colleges can be served. By operating the system on a 24X7X365, overseas colleges can also be served. It will be cheap to provide experimental work for engineering students in India and globally. Country’s resources and students’ time can be dedicated to gaining hands on experience by playing with a few representative machines, components, and materials.
3. In
2005, I sent a letter to a Professor friend suggesting the concept called,
Virtual Experiment Farms. (I am posting it here after removing his name and
address as I do not have his permission to use his name here. In my original
letter, I use a company name, which I changed to ABC in this note.)
Dear Professor …:
It
was a pleasure meeting you again at the Pan-IIT Conference in Washington, D. C.
during 20-22 May 2005. First let me congratulate you on your attaining a high
position of stature and responsibility. I know you will do a great job in that
position.
Having gained
experience in higher education and high technology in India at Kharagpur,
Australia and now in the US for the last 26 years, I have been contemplating
several concepts that can revolutionize higher education in India. I would like
to take the opportunity of your chairmanship of this great committee to suggest
some of the concepts for your review in due course. For now, however, permit me
to submit a simple idea that can have far-reaching positive benefits. I suggest
a concept called virtual experiment farms.
Capsule Description:
The
concept concerns experimental facilities for students of engineering colleges
in India. A number of experiments are set up in one location, with students
from a number of colleges conducting experiments on those machines remotely via
the Internet. For example, a number of engines can be set up in a farm with
instrumentation and Internet connections. A number of video cameras show
different views of the engines. Students from a large number of engineering
colleges can run experiments on these machines by scheduling time on the
machines. There are a number of advantages in this arrangement.
Affordability:
The greatest advantage is that each college does not need to buy, set up, and
maintain expensive laboratories. Experiments can be standardized.
Technology and Logistics: Students get to run experiments remotely, a trend that is both
advanced and modern. For example, U S and European automobile companies conduct
their experiments in test cells with engines instrumented and operated remotely
from outside the test cells. Experimenters are not exposed to the harmful
emissions from the engines. Experimenters’ safety is enhanced by keeping the
machines inside test cells. Students will be right at home with the skills and
experience they gain with this set up. They get results into their computers
and can analyze them readily and rapidly. For example, NASA conducts tests on
satellites remotely via networks; they gained considerable experience in remote
testing or experimenting. The technology is very simple. Conventional machines
or systems are instrumented and connected to the Internet. Local operators
maintain the systems and keep them operational. Students at remote sites
conduct experiments and get results via the Internet.
Utilization:
Students of various colleges in the Indian university system can conduct tests
by scheduling their time on the machines. The machines can run at a high load
factor thus reducing unit costs for each participating university or college.
Supplementation for Hands-on Experience: Will the students lose hands on experience? Each college may buy
used-systems (machines or engines) and allow students to disassemble and
assemble those systems to gain valuable hands-on experience. Personally, my
students and I gained considerable experience by rebuilding old engines and
inventing new thermal cycles at Kharagpur. Both in Australia and the U S, I
realized that people learned a lot about their automobiles and other machinery
by working on those machines. Student experiments by themselves do not give
insights into machines; they provide lessons in system behavior and
characteristics. Students gain creative design and fabrication experience by
playing with machines, which can be done on a large variety of used machines.
Extensibility:
The virtual experimental farms are extensible to electrical machines, hydraulic
machines, structural testing, aeronautics, naval systems, and so on.
The Big Leap:
The advantages can be extended internationally. If some Indian universities
take the lead and offer the services of its facilities nationally, thousands of
Indian engineering colleges can use a few virtual experiment farms. That leads
to enormous cost savings and standardization in experiments. Since the Internet
is global, such services can be offered to other countries also. U S and Europe
are lamenting on the fact that their universities are cutting down on experimentation
as costs are escalating. Well, with Internet and virtual experiment farms, they
can conduct as many experiments as they wish. By locating the facilities in
India, the costs can be affordable. That is another form of outsourcing revenue
for India. By offering such services to African, Asian, and South American
nations, India will be assisting the development of their professional
engineering manpower. That is enormous prestige for the nation!
Technical Feasibility: Can it be done? Yes! In 2003, I visited the ASME and RD&D
Exposition in Washington, D.C., USA. One exhibit attracted me the most. [ABC]
company's Technology Exploration Products. I discussed their products at length
with their President, Mr. [ABC].They make and sell a number of experimental set
ups. They have wind tunnels, electric motor test beds, and engine test beds.
(Please note that I am neither their agent nor do I represent them. Neither do
I endorse their products nor do I recommend them.) One can test an engine and
get the readings on a laptop computer connected to the system. A particular
system costs $15.8K plus $5K for data acquisition module and a laptop computer.
They have cheaper as well as more expensive versions of the engine test
modules. The additional development needed is to write software to make the
testing compatible with the Internet. Of course, Indians have proven to be
great at such software development. The system is technically feasible,
economically viable, and can be demonstrated in a very short time. As I
mentioned in a previous paragraph, NASA has conducted highly sophisticated
remote experiments on satellite systems for a long time. It is possible that
Indian experimental equipment manufacturers will gain the technology and build
these systems for a variety of technologies.
What is the market? With thousands of engineering colleges in India, one can sell the
services and maintain a high load factor on the machines or test
sets. Since the Indian technical education market is mostly government
owned or controlled, with some newer private colleges affiliated to
universities, the governments are the market. Their objective is to increase
student throughput, maintain quality, and reduce costs. That is a very ready
and favorable market for virtual experiment farms.
Financing: I
believe that the governments and universities should finance an initial (or
pilot) capability. Thereafter, the universities can prescribe standards and
allow private enterprises to build, and operate the facilities. In such an
arrangement, the investors can cater to the Indian needs and concurrently sell
their services in the overseas markets. They can operate 24x7x365. Indian
enterprises have already built an excellent record in the off-shore outsourcing
area in back office operations. They can move to the forefront in testing.
Outsourcing of Testing: As Indian engineers, professionals, and managers gain experience
in the experimentation area, overseas manufacturers are likely to offshore
their product and system testing operations to India as a cost-containment
measure. The virtual experiment farms will be in India (conducting tests on new
engines, machines, and systems), while the manufacturers and developers in
Europe and the U S get results via the Internet. This will be another feather
in the Indian off-shoring cap!
Commercial Potential: There was a news item, which stated that John Deere & Co is
setting up an outsourcing and R&D center in Pune. According to the report,
the company will employ 500 people to provide information technology and
engineering testing services for Deere & Company's global operations.
(Source: http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdata.asp?newsno=26740&newscat=Technology) This industrial example is a case of an experiment farm in India
with both Indian testers and overseas testers performing experiments to test
system performance.
The Next Steps: The first step consists in selecting a pilot project with one set
of experiments and building a system and a farm. That can be followed with
identification of a number of high value opportunities and extending the
facilities.
I appreciate your time in reviewing this
suggestion. I will be very pleased to discuss the concept further and help you
in any way I can if you decide to champion this concept. I can be reached at
the phone or email address given above.
With best regards,
Sincerely,
[Signed]
4. A few years ago, Mr. Ashok Syal, an experienced
entrepreneur & friend, and I decided to pursue this concept with the chairman of the
company [ABC] I mentioned in my above letter. We met at Mr. Syal’s office in Virginia, USA, and
discussed over a luncheon meeting. By that time, [ABC] has systems that can do
experiments over the Internet. He was offering the Experiment facilities over
the Internet to US colleges at $250 an hour. Ashok offered that he can bring investors and a
large market if [ABC] agrees to set the ‘Farms’ up in India. [ABC] mentioned to
me that he would like to protect his technology and did not wish to collaborate
with us.
5. I sent the concept to several other friends in high
positions in India. Professor Prem Vrat, former Director of IIT, Roorkee, and
Pro-Chancellor of North Capital University (formerly ITM University) in Delhi, and a friend, sent me (a few years ago)
a news item that showed that his university and IIT, Delhi have a virtual
experiment arrangement for the students of his university.
6. I found that IIT, Delhi has a link to the Virtual lab http://iitd.vlab.co.in/. While it is a good
idea for IIT to develop such a facility and technology, it can be a great national
and global business if Virtual Experimental Farms are set up by private
industry as suggested by me over a decade ago.
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