Young Achiever: Prateek Sethi
A class IX student of DAV Public School of NTPC’s Talcher Thermal power plant in Angul (Odisha), Prateek Sethi (14) is the National Winner of the Vivo Ignite: Technology and Innovation Initiative Ver. 3.0 competition. This young inventor’s prototype WISECAD, a low-cost AI Powered Passive Criminal Activity Detection System using sensorless sensing was top-ranked at the grand finale staged at The Ashok, New Delhi on June 15. The eminent jury awarded Prateek a scholarship of Rs.4 lakh plus a glittering trophy.
A CSR initiative of Vivo India, the Vivo Ignite: Technology and Innovation Initiative is open to school students in classes VIII-XII countrywide. CIET-NCERT, IIT-Madras, Pravartak Technologies Foundation, and UN Global Compact Network India are Vivo’s knowledge partners for this competition which attracted 37,000 entries and 5,600 innovative ‘Tech For Good’ projects.
Prateek’s criminal detection system uses Channel State Information (CSI) from Wi-Fi signals to remotely detect anti-social activities like physical assaults, theft, or forced entries in a given area, without use of cameras and/or wearable devices.
The gifted teenager willingly attributes his latest achievement to project mentors Prof. (Dr.) Siba K. Udgata from School of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Hyderabad; Dr. Ramesh Kumar Sahoo of the Birla Global University Bhubaneswar, Odisha and Prof. (Dr.) Srinivas Sethi, Head of the computer science department at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Technology (IGIT), Sarang. “They validated and corrected my criminal detection system at every stage. I am also grateful to my parents, school principal and teachers who encouraged me to enter WISECAD into this national students’ competition,” says Prateek.
Looking ahead, this young tech whiz plans to perfect and scale his innovation, collaborate with law enforcement and civic bodies, and integrate advanced AI to improve accuracy. “Constantly ideating new inventions apart, after school I intend to study for a computer science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, to continue to develop solutions for societal challenges, and ultimately establish a startup focused on ethical surveillance and public safety technologies,” says this gifted inventor/innovator.
May your tribe increase!
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