Geek Speak: When pupils become masters . . .

Kidobotikz is a place of where one gets to discover wonderful realities. When one enters Kidobotikz classrooms, it is usually a beehive of robotic nonchalance. Students are generally oblivious to the surroundings and spend their time learning the essential concepts of robotics. However, there’s an entire breed of students at kidobotikz who are involved in something far more phenomenal. They don’t just gain something from the robotics community. They strive to give something back to the vast pool of knowledge in the robotics community.

Meet Mathivanan, Associate engineer at Kidobotikz. He is not your average trainer in an educational institution. He has a much more important purpose here at Kidobotikz. This electrical engineering graduate from Puducherry always wanted to create an impact in students and wanted to teach them the knowledge of robotics which he learnt by himself. This desire of his is precisely what inspired him to join Kidobotikz. Here at Kidobotikz, he helps bright young minds realize their dreams. He helps students build new projects and working models. Every time a Kidobotikz student or alumni desires to create a new concept in his or her own area of interest, he or she she is allotted a faculty at Kidobotikz. These faculty help the students conceptualize their ideas, brainstorm the technicalities and finally implement all of them to create a working prototype, not much unlike an incubation center. The students approach the faculty as and when they find time to collaborate on the project and successfully make it work.  

Mathivanan is currently associated on a project with Hemanth, a 7th grader from St.John’s Matriculation Higher Secondary School. The project which is as novel as it is futuristic. Hemanth who had an idea to develop a home automation system spent some time brainstorming this idea with his mentor and the final result was a concept which was simpler yet had a much more powerful impact on the daily life. Hemanth, who had a fascination for IoT devices, is now developing a device that will protect the household wiring from overloading by keeping real time surveillance of the load on the system. The device, claims Mathivanan, which is halfway through to successful completion will be capable of keeping track of the power consumption through the household fuse and intimate the user instantly in dire situations. It is capable of sending instant updates via a GSM transmitter which will relay the information directly onto the user’s mobile phones. It also capable of autonomously turning off the power supply in case of threat to the system. This will help in preventing short circuits, power surges, detecting power theft and will optimise the overall power consumption by a household. Under Mathivanan’s guidance, Hemanth is also working on to add an additional feature to the device wherein the device will notify the user the total consumption of power in terms of the bill amount by factoring in the power tariff. The knowledge of robotics has the potential to not only shape the future of our children, but that of the entire society and its way of life.

Happy Roboting ! !