Impress anyone and you are assured of a lucrative job. The stakes are high for the 32 teams of fourth-year students, totalling 120, as MechX-2018, an exhibition of talent and ingenuity which showcased some of the best young minds the country has got underway last Tuesday. “These are all students in their fourth and final year and they have all undertaken projects in areas which are relevant to the country’s development today,” says Dr. Ruwan Gopura, proud department head of Mechanical Engineering at the Katubedda campus. I’m easily impressed with the effort and thought which has gone into these projects. I remember making a kite when I was young, but somehow, I got the aerodynamics wrong and I never got to “go fly a kite”. So, I’m easily impressed. But really, a walk through the large halls where esoteric exhibits are displayed leaves me awestruck – a cooling system to increase the efficiency of your solar panels, an underwater dredger to help remove silt in our lakes (and make sure not a drop of rain is wasted and help alleviate drought), automated bricklaying are some of the most practical projects at first glance. But the best is saved or the last – a cricket boot with an in-sole which reduces stress and injuries to your feet. This is the brainwave of Aravinda Prabhaswara, G.D. Saranga and K. Piratheepan, all cricket fans. “Fast bowlers in their final stride have much difficulty in the toe area. You see some fast bowlers have cut their boot in front so the toe juts out. This is to relieve pressure on the toe because your foot slides forwards in the delivery stride. This results in black toe nails which hurts,” explained Aravinda. After an exhaustive questionnaire – the cricket team at the university as well as those at SSC – Aravinda and company developed a ridged in-sole which prevent the foot from sliding forward. It is 3-D printed and costs only Rs.18,000 .
