Rocking with robots

It can traverse through difficult terrain while cleaning piles of garbage on its way. It can also detect any obstacle placed en route. And it does all of these by using artificial intelligence. We are referring to robots here. In a robotics competition for school students called TRiCKS organised by ThinkLABS, at IIT Powai over the weekend, participants were told to make robots, which were given specific tasks to perform. While robotics, as a branch of science is still in its nascent stage in India, the competition nevertheless provided a glimpse into the future where technology will rule the world. "Unlike abroad, in India one gets to learn about robotics only after Class 12. Such workshops and competitions are steps taken to change this scenario and use robots to teach science and technology," explained Gagan Goyal, founder and CEO of ThinkLABS Technosolutions, the event organiser.u00a0

Preparation
Tricks saw 83 teams participating in the event. The teams, mostly comprising school children came from all over India.

Pavit Singh Nagpal (10) studies in the fifth standard at the Trinity International School, Mumbai. Pavit, who was getting ready for the trial sessions, took two hours to design the robot. When asked what his robot could do, Pavit quickly started demonstrating. "It has a gripper and various motors attached to it. Tasks like cleaning garbage, moving heavy objects can be accomplished with great ease," says Pavit. For Pavit's mother, Surjit Kaur Nagpal, it was like getting back to school. Surjit said, "Seeing him fit all the different parts and assemble things to make this complete machine has helped me to learn a lot about robots. It is great exposure."
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Anand Sangli (10) was happy with his performance in the semi-finals. "My robot has done well. It has completed all the tasks beautifully. I had to modify it a bit for the final but there were no structural changes required as such," he explained.

There were two categories in the competition. One was the manual arena where the robots were controlled by their 'masters' with the help of a remote control. The other was the autonomous arena where the robots were supposed to perform various tasks on their own. "In the autonomous arena, the robot had to ride safely, stop at the red signal and cross the flyover on its own. So the programming had to be done beforehand," said Wahid Shaikh, trainer. The manual robots were expected to do their bit to keep the city clean and green.

Yash Lakhani (12) from DAV Public school, Airoli took a whole day to design his robot. Yash has already firmed up his plan to become a robotic engineer in the future. Jigna Lakhani, Yash's mother, believes this is the age of technology and there is a constant need to evolve. Robotics, considered as a male domain also saw participation from girls. While some participants looked tense others were elated with their performance. Said Ghachi Arzina (11), who had come from Baroda to take part in the competition, "I couldn't prepare well due to my exams but next time I will do well," The winners of the competition now have an opportunity to visit NASA in the USA. Anjal Parikh (11) of Gopi Birla School, Mumbai and Anudruth Manjunath (13) of Delhi Public School, Bangalore were the winners.

Benifits
Robotics is nothing but applied science and can help students get hands-on experience of theoretical concepts that they learn in classrooms. "Robotics, as a branch of science is still at a developing stage. The problem with our curriculum is, it is more theoretical and less practical. The formulas that one learns in the class have to be used for complete understanding," said Dadhichi Shukla, robot instructor.

Goyal seconds that, "Our aim is not to make robotic engineers. We want the students to see and feel technology, let them see for themselves the practical applications of what they have learnt in their classrooms.
It is more of a tool. When I had gone for the first time to participate in a robotic competition abroad, there were school children competing with engineering students," recollected Goyal. Hence the 29-year-old entrepreneur started his own company three years ago to impart education in robotics to the schools kids.

Response
Various schools in Mumbai have been conducting robotic workshops for their students. A few of them even have robot labs on campus. Setting up a robot lab is however an expensive proposition, says Goyal. "It should be made part of the curriculum," said Shukla.

Concurs Meera Isaacs, Principal of The Cathedral and John Connon School, "For robotics to be made part of the curriculum the entire curriculum has to be revamped. And if it happens it will definitely be a good thing."

However, at present, in many schools robotics workshop are more of a co-curricular activity.

Teachers
From the first robot which visited Mars, to replacing traditional Sushi chefs in various restaurants in Japan, robots have replaced human beings in certainu00a0 roles. Yet, it would be premature to think robots would replace human endeavour here in India. At a workshop held at IIT Mumbai prior to the competition, teachers were taught about robots. "The aim of such workshops is to help the teachers teach robotics to schoolchildren," says Shukla.

But will the robots ever take the place of a teacher?u00a0 Jigna says, "It is absolutely fine to use robots to teach application based science but when it comes to replacing teachers, I would want a human being to guide my kids rather than a machine."

Nita Shakar, computer science teacher, who was attending the workshop for the first time found the classes informative and interesting but when askedu00a0 about robots replacing teachers she said, "It might teach students but a robot lacks emotions so it will not be able to connect with the students."

"Teachers are teachers and nobody can take their place," ended Shakar.

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