The Art Of Innovation – ISRO Engineer Converts Old Car Into Mini Excavator

When a vehicle becomes old, we tend to replace it with a newer model. But Ben Jacobs who is an ISRO engineer decided to try something different. He converted his car into a mini-excavator as per a report in The New Indian Express.

Ben belongs to Choozhattukotta village near Nemom and now he wants to make other innovative gadgets like wind turbines using renewable energy.

Eye-catching innovation

He is an engineer in the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation. During the lockdown, he had time to work on his latest innovation of making his car a mini-excavator. 

Changed a 1998-model car

“A 1998-model Daewoo Matiz car, which I had purchased for my wife Jeeja years ago, was lying in the garage. I considered redesigning it into a useful machine. Since I was always fascinated by excavators since my childhood, I thought of utilising my free time to transform the old vehicle into a mini-excavator,” he said.

“As the innovation works on the hydraulics principle, I had to procure some spare parts from Gujarat while a few were available in Thiruvananthapuram. Although I started working on the design in May, I could only complete it in August due to the delay in obtaining the spare parts,” he added. 

“The car-turned-mini-excavator consists of a metal arm along with a digging bucket at the end which extends like a small crane. It was not an easy task to transform this car. I took some help from a nearby workshop for punching 44mm holes for the hinges,” he went on to say. 

Cost him only Rs 70,000

This cost him a mere Rs 70,000 to make while the commercial ones around Rs 25 lakh. Now that is truly innovative. It was not easy to make but his labour bore fruit when he finished it. 

One hopes he comes up with more such innovative ideas. Cheaper ways to get things done more effectively. The man after all is an engineer and he is plying the tools of his trade.

Where there is a will, there is surely a way and Jacobs is a testament to this fact.