World Robot Olympiad, Elementary – Nationals

Theme: ‘Sustainabots: Robots for Sustainability’

Key Problems in Conventional Natural Dyeing Processes:

1. Difficulty in procuring the exact shade for each fabric due to inevitable differences in the color yielded from different flowers/ plants.
2. Re-dyeing fabrics lead to excessive wastage of water.
3. Wastage of natural resources due to excessive exploitation of natural dyeing.

Solutions Devised in the Robotic Model:

1. Employing a color sensor to check to contrast the dyed color with the exact desired shade before being printed on the fabric.
2. Reduces water wastage associated with re-dyeing: dilutes darker shades and adds pigmentation to lighter shades.
3. Avoids excessive wastage of natural resources by using waste materials such as the peel of a fruit.

Potential Area(s) for Improvement

There are certain scenarios where a vaporization-consenation purification model may not be ideal. For most natural products, the temperatures are high enough for sublimation to occur, but in certain cases this may be difficult. Therefore, exploring other mechanisms for purification of the dye pigment, such as extensive filtering, may make the model more efficient.