Latest news with #PVasudevan
Time of India
09-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Cashless payment yet to gain acceptance in city buses
Thiruvananthapuram: Though cashless transactions have become more or less the norm, private buses in the city are yet to accept digital payments using UPI. KSRTC city service buses have the facility on the handheld ticket machines used by conductors, but commuters hardly know about it. This often becomes an inconvenience for commuters who struggle to get small change in crowded of the private buses do not have upgraded ticket machines that can show QR codes and some staff do not have smartphones. "In some private buses, the crew accept UPI payments on their phones. In others, the conductor has a ticketing machine that displays a QR code for UPI payments. However, commuters need to ask for the UPI payment option," said P Vasudevan, a commuter.A conductor in a private bus that plies via Kowdiar said that he does not have a smartphone and the management has not provided a facility. "We prefer cash. It is fast for us," he added. In another bus, conductors who previously accepted digital payments have started refusing them to avoid the hassle of processing transactions on their personal phones and accounting for them in the day's collection.C Jose, a commuter, said the bus owners can offer a QR code to the crew. Liyons J from Friends on Rails said, "Cashless is the norm. But it is not publicized on transport buses. Railways too introduced it only recently. The employees may fear that they will lose their jobs if UPI payments become popular."He said that the govt should insist that transport buses should have QR codes or QR code-enabled ticket machines. A senior bank official said that a current account is all that is needed to activate digital payments in commercial mode. There is a nominal fee, he KSRTC city buses have UPI, commuters need to inform the conductor in advance that they will be using UPI. "By habit, the conductors don't expect someone to pay by UPI," said Jose. UPI processed Rs 23.49 lakh crore across 16.58 billion financial transactions in Oct 2024, marking a 45% year-on-year growth from 11.40 billion transactions in Oct 2023. Around 632 banks are connected to the platform, says a statement from a time when UPI is getting popular, the hesitation to embrace a convenient payment option by the bus operators in the city is posing a huge hassle to commuters.
Business Mayor
30-04-2025
- Science
- Business Mayor
Robot vacuums 'could water plants or play with cat'
Scientists have reprogrammed a robot vacuum cleaner to help charge a phone and assist in a home workout because they think the machines are currently too 'idle'. Researchers from the University of Bath say the increasingly popular domestic appliances are, on average, in use for less than two hours per day, but could be working considerably harder – with some modifications. To prove their point, they retrained a Roomba device to carry out a range of other chores, and outlined many more possible tasks it could do such as playing with a cat and watering the plants. Such robots 'are perceived as limited, single-task devices but there is a strong argument that they are under-used for practical tasks', said Yoshiaki Shiokawa, the author of the study. The global household robots market size was valued at $10.3bn (£7.7bn) in 2023 and is anticipated to hit $24.5bn by 2028, meaning such devices are an increasingly common sight in people's homes. Anyone who has watched a robot vacuum cleaner in action may argue these ideas are a little far-fetched, given that current machines sometimes struggle with the challenges presented by rugs and shoelaces while carrying out their core function. However, scientists from the University of Bath and the University of Calgary in Canada, have set out to prove that cleaners – and similar devices, such as lawnmowers – could be reprogrammed and modified relatively easily. Their study identified 100 functions the robots could possibly perform with simple adjustments. The scientists then reprogrammed a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner to perform four of them: A mobile phone charger attached to the vacuum that is programmed to follow the user A robot with a projector attached that displayed a workout video on a wall or ceiling A 'home monitor' with live video so a user could check on the oven A screen showing 'do not disturb' on a robot that was programmed to go to a specific location, to help minimise possible disturbances Read More RBI Fintech department gets a new boss in P Vasudevan Other proposed tasks suggested by the scientists include a reprogrammed robot that carried the groceries from the car to the kitchen. Mr Shiokawa, a PhD student in the department of computer science at Bath, said the project proved that 'after making minimal adjustments, a Roomba can serve multiple roles around the home'. 'For most of the day, they sit idle', he lamented. He added that taking on some new tasks involved some upgrades the average vacuum owner probably would not have lying around their homes, such as a cart, a helmet and a robotic arm. Nonetheless, he said people should be expecting more of their robots. 'We should be extending their utility beyond their primary tasks by programming them to physically navigate the home to perform a range of additional functions,' he said. The study's co-author Dr Adwait Sharma agreed, saying the device's 'idle time' presented 'unique opportunities' to meet the 'growing need for adaptable robots and integrated systems that can seamlessly fit into our daily lives'. READ SOURCE
