Rice University and NTU developing I-slate for Indian school kids
15 Nov 2010
Scientists from Singapore are developing on a low-cost tablet that would be ultra-lean on power requirements. For use by children in rural India, the tablet would be charged using solar energy.
Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Rice University are developing the device that would consume very little energy. With the device, called I-slate some of the estimated 100 million Indian children who attend schools without electricity may be gain access to an electronic notepad.
According to Krishan Palem, of Rice University who is leading the initiative, India's full economic potential would be only realised with development of sustainable, low-cost technologies that benefit all segments of the population.
Palem's brainchild, I-Slate is under development at the NTU-based, Institute of Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID).The device's prototypes were built by a team that included three Rice undergraduates, and these are set to undergo their second round of tests in India later this month.
According to Palem, who directs ISAID, the device is the first in a series of electronic notepads being built using newly developed green, power-stingy microchips that consume a fraction of the electricity of today's processors.
The chips are being jointly developed by ISAID and Switzerland's Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology. The chips would make it possible for the I-slate to run on solar power from panels similar to the ones in hand-held calculators. The I-slate's prototypes were introduced in tests at a school near Hyderabad in early August.
