Mumbai robotics lab helps children create prototypes for real problems

Techno Nerds has made a navigation system using RSSI to help astronauts explore the space minus the fear of being lost. Pics/Sneha Kharabe

It might seem like a dream voyage to be inside a space shuttle, but astronauts are prone to loneliness, anxiety and depression, like everyone else," says Chaitanya Raghavan, a student of VIBGYOR High. Raghavan, 12, is probably the oldest in a group of children, in which the average age is eight. To watch tots spout adulting lingo and discuss the mental health of astronauts might seem unusual, but it all makes sense when you realise what they're on to.

Making space for innovation
Inside the air-conditioned room at Oshiwara's On My Own Technology, a robotics lab, team Livewires is prepping for the First Lego League, an international competition that challenges kids "to think like scientists and engineers". This year, the theme is Into Orbit, for which participants will have to choose and solve a space-related problem. Team Livewires' answer to battle a low when high up is in the form of a fully functional Virtual Reality system that is integrated with a robot.

Student Johan Mehta works on Lego construction at the lab, where children are encouraged to identify a problem and devise solutions

How it works is this: in space, the astronaut wears the VR headset, while the robot on earth moves around his home, allowing the astronaut to watch and experience his home environment. "By angling his arms, he will also be able to control the robot's movement on earth. This way, the astronaut will feel at home and can even partake in family celebrations," explains Antara Patel, 10, giving us a demo of the mechanism that, she says, still requires fine-tuning.

Moments of exasperation and elation are common at the lab that was set up in 2016 to stimulate scientific and creative thinking in young minds through STEAM (science, technology, electronics, art and mathematics) education. A look around and you see tiny heads hunched over LEGO bots, testing their applications, with a tutor monitoring their progress. What began with mere 20 students, has over 200 kids on the roster today. "The only reason we don't have more kids is because they [parents and kids] don't know about it," says Reetu Jain, founder and chief mentor. Incidentally, the idea took root when Jain's son Siddharth, 9, decided to build an Iron Man.

Reetu Jain, founder, On My Own

While she roped in an electronics engineer to understand the circuitry, a mechanic to decode the structure and a coder to create the software, she realised not every child would be in a position to do so. "It was an eye-opener because I felt, like Siddharth, there are so many kids with immense potential in the applied sciences, but there's no infrastructure to put it to action."

Most students who have made it to the centre have done so through word of mouth. While some have opted for competition-oriented modules, others are in for an ongoing training process. All of them have one goal: to create new sophisticated bots and powerful algorithms to find solutions to different tasks. Needless to say, solutions don't appear overnight. Both teams have been at it for the last eight months.

As the Livewires perfects its moves, another team, Techno Nerds, has made a navigation system using RSSI (received signal strength indicator) to help astronauts explore space minus the fear of being lost. "When astronauts are in outer space, they are restricted to research in a limited area around their space shuttle. There is no way to travel far as there are no landmarks. This device marks a huge boundary around the shuttle and the astronaut can navigate anywhere within this boundary. They can go back to the same spot with the help of the device," says Tvisha Gala, 14, the only student to be homeschooled in the squad. For now, both teams have less than a month to iron out glitches before the competition takes place.

Creating ripples overseas
In three years' time, Jain's students have made waves at national and international robotics leagues. Last year, team G-Force fetched the Best Research and Most Innovative Solutions award at the First Lego League in Estonia. The topic was water, for which the team designed a waterproof circuit in commodes to reduce water wastage. The rigour during sessions is such that kids are encouraged not only to identify problems, but even come up with solutions. "The other day, one of the kids saw a worker hanging precariously from a building while doing a paint job. She asked, 'Why don't we create a bot with an automated arm that can do the function instead of putting somebody's life at risk?'" says Jain, who ensures the ideas pitched can be executed.

Having said this, all of this knowledge costs a pretty penny. Most kids hail from privileged backgrounds. But, last year, Jain and her team roped in six students from Dharavi to train them in robotics. "We want to create innovators who will go on to create something like Apple, but in India," smiles Jain.

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