IMPACT : International Journal of Research in Engineering & Technology

19-26

Authors: S. ARIVOLI

ABSTRACT An automatic lawn cutter helps the user to cut the grass in their lawn with less effort. The different sensors are used to detect and avoid objects obstacles and humans intervention while moving. The objective of automatic lawn cutter is that the user can specify the area that is to be cut down with a machine and the height of grass to be cut as per the requirement is done by using the keypad. The design of automatic lawn cutter is done by using an AT mega microcontroller, RF module, IR sensors, motors, LCD Display and Keypad. This grass cutter can work in any of two modes i.e. ―Automatic and Manual. All hardware and software operations are controlled by AT mega microcontroller. The wireless communication between remote (manual mode) and robot is performed by the RF modules which covers a range of 50 meters. For obstacle detection, the robot is developed with IR sensor. Four motors are used, one for grass cutting and two for wheels. Driver IC L293D used to drive the motors. The entire circuitry is connected with 12V battery. All the operations are controlled by robot themselves in automatic mode and in case of hurdle detection, they change the lane and moves back. By using the keypad the expected task is performed In the manual mode to operate the robot. For transmission and reception of the information between remote and robot, RF module is used and to display the fetched information related to the detection of hurdle, LCD is used. And also the blade is attached with front bottom of the robot which is used for cutting the grass.

31-40

Authors: N N HARRY, Y K BIND & ALVIN HARISON

ABSTRACT This research is prepared to explore the possibilities of applying soft computing methods to save time and cost involved in conventional design mix process. Concrete mix design methods available till date were listed and research articles following these procedures were reviewed. The purpose of review was to understand the difficulties encountered in the follow up process of these design mix process. Use of soft computing methods like Artificial Neural Network Neuro Fuzzy were reviewed in purview of these difficulties.

49-54

Authors: Rahul P John, Neena Dasappan, Akash J K, Abin Baby & Abhi Anand S

ABSTRACT A composite material is a macroscopic combination of two or more distinct materials, having a recognizable interface between them. Composites are used not only for their structural properties, but also for electrical, mechanical, and environmental applications. Present review deals with the recent development of lingo-cellulosic/lingo-cellulosic and lingo-cellulosic/synthetic fibers based reinforced hybrid composites. Fibers are taken from leaves of Pineapple leaf by retting process. This fiber along with glass fiber can be a new source of raw material and can be a potential replacement of the expensive and non renewable synthetic fiber. Isophthalic polyester is used as the binding agent. This work intended to present an outline of main results presented on hybrid composites focusing the attention in terms of processing, mechanical and heat resistant properties. Hybrid composites are one of the emerging fields in polymer science that triumph attention for application in various sectors ranging from automobile to the building industry.

69-80

Authors: GUMA ALI, BUSINGE PHELIX MBABAZI, NKAMWESIGA LAWRENCE & ANDOGAH GEOFFREY

ABSTRACT It’s a requirement in admission for every student to come with a mobile device for any programme admitted. The main objective of this study was to establish how the students use mobile devices in lecture rooms /classroom this was achieved by answering the following research questions: which mobile devices are owned by students? what are benefits of using mobile devices by students?and how mobile devices are used for learning?Quantitative design was employed using questionnaires containing a five (5) Likert scale items ranging from strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree-strongly disagree and open-ended items was utilized in this study to obtain quantitative information to answer the research questions: A total population of 331 was considered and sample size of 181 was obtained using Krejcie and Morgan table, stratified sampling was used to collect data from each stratum and data was analyzed using SPSS Version 16. The reliability of the data collected was tested using the Cronbach's reliability test coefficient where the overall value of all the options was on average 0.65 which was beyond recommended 0.6 for an instrument to be declared reliable. The findings showed that, 56.2% (91) respondents use smart phones, 40.7 %( 66) use Laptops in class and only 1.2 %( 2) use kindle in class room while no student indicated that he/she uses Ipad or PDA in classroom or lecture room. In terms of the benefits of using mobile devices, students the following among the top four (4) benefits; easy to access information, storage of information, mobility of the device and use of social media but cost effective and security of information were ranked last. The findings also showed students use mobile devices to access course materials, doing class work, send and receive e-mails and taking and sharing of notes but virtual classroom, discussion forums and using pre-recorded lecturers with PowerPoint were ranked among the last three (3). This study recommends that Smartphone’s and mobile devices should be allowed to use by students, lecturer to start virtual classroom, discussion forums and using pre-recorded lecturers with PowerPoint so that the students can also benefit from these functionalities since they were ranked among the last three(3) services not used.