Sabuj Saikia and Kaustav Moni Malakar, both Class XII students of Maharishi Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Silpukhuri, have been bestowed with the Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Ignite Award 2017 for developing ‘Foot operated tea making machine for the specially abled’ in a bid to make life of people with upper limb paralysis or injury easier.
Sabuj and Kaustav received the award from former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee at a function held at Ahmedabad, Gujarat on December 22.
The foot operated tea making machine invented by the duo works manually and does not require electricity. It was among the top 29 projects that were selected for the award from 65,000 entries nationally.
Earlier, the duo had also represented India in the World Robotics Championship 2016 at the international level.
Besides, Sabuj, who had won the Ideathlon 2017 competition, was invited for the Nobel Prize Series 2017.