This engineering student at UPES is Rancho 2.0

Krishna Singh of UPES School of Engineering is making heads turn with his creativity, innovative streak and business acumen

He is 19 and ingenious. Meet Krishna Singh, a first-year student of Electronics and Computer Engineering at UPES. His shy and reticent demeanour belies the tenacious spirit he packs within, that has led him to make waves not just within the academic institution but at higher levels of governmental authority as well.

He recently made an innovative sketch machine – a Computer Numerical Control or CNC plotter – and presented it to Uttarakhand Governor Lt. Gen. Gurmeet Singh during an event on sustainability. The device draws complex line drawings based on coordinates that are uploaded into its microcontroller via a software. So impressed was the Governor that he didn’t let Krishna get off the stage until the young boy had related his entire life story to him. Krishna also received an award from former state education minister Dhan Singh Rawat for an apparatus that uses the pyrolysis process to convert plastic into diesel.

When Krishna joined UPES in 2022, little did he know that within a short span of time, he would gain the reputation of being the Ranchoddas of the university. Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad was the name of the character played by Aamir Khan in the movie 3 Idiots, who was not only known for his scientific genius and creative imagination, but also his keen desire to help those in need. And just like Ranchoddas, Krishna too helped his professor in his own unique way when he joined college. He took apart a machine that had been out of order since 2018 and fixed it fully well.

His problem-solving skills won him praises from all his professors who encouraged him to polish and chisel his entrepreneurial spirit and innovative streak.

Educated on a full scholarship at Vivek Vidyalaya in Chhota Govindpur, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, Krishna received practical exposure in hardware, learning to make small machines at the age of 15. The school sent him to prominent institutions such as IIT-Bombay and NIT-Jamshedpur for competitions.

Through these competitions, the resourceful student also managed to establish contacts with college students who would take his help to make their final-year projects. And Krishna was bright enough to charge them a fee for his help. With the money he earned, he set up his own start-up called Pie Craft that specialised in making projects for college students. They would make 3D printers, CNC plotters, laser cutters, etc, for their student customers.

However, that was not all. Krishna extended his imagination to drones and robots. During the COVID-19 lockdown, he used his spare time to build an agri-drone that sprayed herbicides only if it detected the presence of weeds or crop disease in the field. He also assembled some line follower robots at the request of his student clients.

Ask him what his life goal is and the soft-spoken youth says that he wants to own a hardware start-up that will focus on providing solutions to problem statements. So dedicated is he towards his work that he has converted his entire hostel room into a lab of sorts.

Krishna’s father owns a construction supplies shop while his mother is a homemaker. His two brothers, quite unlike him, are interested in sports. However, despite financial hardships, his parents have always encouraged him to pursue his interests.

Krishna credits his teachers for inspiring him to follow his passion in STEM subjects. He credits his professor for helping him get a paid internship opportunity with R2H, an R&D based company. The extra money has helped him in contributing to the family income.

Krishna has only just begun but is already being hailed as one of the innovators to watch out for in future!