IIT Madras faculty's digital book to help develop flexible robots

NEW DELHI: A digital book published by a faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, which claims to help develop flexible robots was published by the Institute of Physics, United Kingdom. The digital book titled Developments in Photoelasticity – A Renaissance is authored by K Ramesh, ‘Mahesh K chair professor’, department of applied mechanics

According to a statement from IIT Madras, the digital book is about the use of photoelasticity to understand biological systems through their movement. This is said to help in the development of robots that can be used for purposes such as disaster management, agricultural production among others.

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“Photoelasticity is an experimental technique to reveal the stress or strain fields in models or structures through fringe patterns, especially in colour, by exploiting the phenomenon of temporary double refraction induced by in-service loading,” said the statement.

“What is really striking about this book is the applications of this research, which range from plant biology to semiconductor packaging. This can be a game-changer when implemented in the field. I am sure many students will take this up as a career and I look forward to many start-ups coming up in this field,” said V Kamakoti, director of IIT Madras.

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“The engineering colleges across the country need to restart their laboratory on Photoelasticity – in view of the great strides the technique has made in the last two decades and in offering hope for solving emerging problems in diverse fields. Instead of a real laboratory, many could benefit by setting up a virtual polariscope at a fraction of the cost of the actual setup,” said Ramesh.