A 14-year-old girl from Kerala found herself balancing Class X exams with hours of household laundry after her mother fell ill and her father underwent cancer treatment. Remya Jose and her twin sister had to take on the chores, leaving them with little time for their studies.
Instead of accepting the problem, Remya decided to build her own washing machine. She designed a machine that replaced electricity with pedal power and cost about Rs 2,000. The National Innovation Foundation (NIF) later documented the invention as the Washing Cum Exercise Machine.