Bye, Bye, Blogger. . . .

“Change is good !” they say.

Over the past few months, we’ve worked hard to share a few wonderful articles with you through this page. This is where some of our wonderful sections such as Geek Speak, Tech Mania and Kit Creatives have been shared. Some of the best achievements of our students and our community has been shared on this page.

But it’s time that we moved on and reached out to more audiences. Things have changed, times have changed. We’ve felt that integrating this page with our own website will give our beautiful readers all the content they need at a more easier location. 

The new blog at Kidobotikz’s own website will help our users get all the content they require at the same page. They can gain access to a lot of new features from the page and can also stay in touch with activities of the vibrant community.

So, as of today we are ending our association with the blogger page. All the old articles will exist on this page though, so that you can relive your memories while we move them back to the new page. 

While the page may change, what hasn't changed is our approach. You can expect the same kind of articles and the same standard of writing that you’ve grown used to

From tomorrow, you can read about us and kidobotikz community at kidobotikz.com/blog

As always, if you have feedback, we'd love to hear it. Please email us at info@kidobotikz.com.

Thank you for supporting what we do.

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Robotics learning in the age of Open Innovation

If one has been part of a Multinational Conglomerate with several business verticals, the recent latest fad one can relate to is the term “Open Innovation”. Open innovation as a concept is fairly new and it’s adoption is yet to take off on a massive scale. One can blame this on the mindset of big institutions that are risk averse and tend to lock up their innovation with patents.

While safeguarding ideas with patents may have been lucrative with the royalties that it had earnt the industry until now, it has had a significant impact on the innovation culture within the ecosystem.

Innovation is no longer disruptive. At best it can be termed as innovation that is incremental and gradual. This means that the innovation engine has run dry across most sectors and needs to be restarted.

While the concept of open innovation has been promoted by big players and small players alike, there has been quite a struggle in getting it moving forward. This can attributed to the general climate where innovation and creativity are no longer words of importance outside R&D and product development. The common employee who probably is a part of testing has no medium through which he can express or explore his creative and technical prowess. 

While it is understandable that Industries encourage employees who think outside the box or go the extra mile in bringing uniqueness to the products, more often than not, an employee’s thought processes are locked up in the rigours of routine. 

What is of paramount importance is the discovery of an activity or curriculum that not only promotes thinking creatively, but also help think on lines that bring in an element of futurism to ideas.

This can be made possible only if technologies of the future are embraced and employees are made “early adopters”.

With the advent of regimes such as Industry 4.0, Internet of Things(IoT) and Cyber Physical processes, the industry and employees in particular need to acquaint themselves the nitty-gritties of these technologies. Also, with the “Hardware Revolution” underway, more computing has been extracted from non-conventional platforms with devices such as 3-D printers, SBCs (Single Board Computers) and Microcontrollers coming to the fore.

With such being the case, the knowledge of robotics, and the subjects under it’s gamut- electronics, mechanics, algorithm, programming- provide employees with the right skillsets to think across the spectrum and be capable of delivering innovative solutions for many a problems. More importantly, it removes the need to look for solutions from elsewhere. With a climate that embraces ideas within the system, the solutions can be found within the industry. Even if solutions exist elsewhere, employees empowered with the necessary skills will be able to cross-pollinate them to meet the requirements of firms.

Happy Roboting !

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Education in 2020: How will it look like?

When we usually think about the year 2020, we assume of a time somewhere in the future where flying cars would be the norm and contact with alien civilizations would’ve been established. Followers of our former president Shri Abdul Kalam would probably think of the vision he portrayed through the book “Vision 2020”

Of course, in our eternal love for procrastination, most of us forget the fact that 2020 is not the far future. It is very much the near future- just 4 years away!

With such proximity to the promising year, let’s actually examine what are the possibilities that could exist in the third decade of the 21st Century- particularly in the field of education.

Well, we’re no soothsayers or oracles to be able to predict the state of education in the 2020s. But, we actually are capable of is to examine the current trends and plot the graph that ends at the year 2020.

So, what indeed are the trends in the education sector vis-a-vis 2016?

Mobile Learning: Mobile learning, or mLearning. It’s estimated that the mobile learning industry alone will grow to over $37 billion by 2020. Obviously, this is an eLearning trend people just can’t get enough of.

Gamification: Gamification in the course curriculum promotes knowledge retention and also provides a certain degree of entertainment. It does a great job of bringing elements of entertainment and relaxation to any type of online training. It’s possible that the gamification market will top off at about $2.8 billion in 2016.

Video-Based Training: eLearning designers made a wise move when they began to implement video into online learning. Video-based training is becoming so popular that about 98 percent of ALL organizations will include video in their digital learning strategies in 2016.

Big Data: Big Data, for eLearning, would be the data generated by learners who interact with the learning content as a part of their course. This data is collected through Learning Management Systems.

Now, that we have such interesting trends on hand, can we actually get to the task of predicting how the education scenario would like in the future? 

A wild guess couldn’t hurt our chances.

Prediction: Individualized training will be the norm as opposed to classroom based learning. The courses will happen at a pace optimised to match the student’s learning speed. While tutors will continue play a role in the learning process, their role will be limited to that of a supervisor of the learning process while the knowledge in itself will not be imparted by them. It will likely be digitized and taught using interactive video content. The tutors will play a role in taking forward the knowledge of the candidate and direct them towards their areas of strength. The performance and areas of strengths in themselves will be determined using metrics that are not based on memorization of concepts, but application of the concepts.  More importantly, technologies such as Big Data will help evaluate the learning attributes of students and generate reports that will help tutors understand their students better. 

Inspired by

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Will robots eventually eat into the Quintessential White Collar?

If there’s a major fad amongst the industrial community today, it has to be the fact that the majority of the workforce of today will be replaced by robots in the future. While this prediction is a no-brainer, whether such a transformation will happen in the near future or in the slightly distant one could be anybody’s guess.

While the general opinion is this, there is also a sense of denial among a section of the professionals who feel that the claims of takeover by AI and robotics are thin on the ground and their professions- likely Medicine practice, Law, Accountancy- will remain unscathed.

Today’s white collar professionals very well know that automation has happened in a significant chunk of the industry and replaced jobs with bots. But yet, some practitioners routinely argue that the final say will always be placed at the hands of human experts who will be needed for the tricky stuff that calls for judgment, creativity, and empathy.

But ongoing trends and recent research publications by esteemed organizations seem to point in the opposite direction.

For example, a case study published by the Harvard Business Review challenges the idea that professionals who claim to be in a seat of niche will be spared. The article claims that within decades the traditional professions will be dismantled and most of today’s experts will be replaced by less-expert employees or new types of experts. These people will however be supplemented by high-performing systems.

The fallacy that the professions are immune to displacement by technology is ill-founded and is surmised on two assumptions: one being that computers are incapable of exercising judgment or being creative or empathetic; two being that these capabilities are indispensable in the delivery of professional service.

However, these assumptions fail to see the light of the current happenings where industry imbibes processes to get processes leaner and efficient. With the shift to systematization, the use of technology to automate or transform the way a professional work is done is only a logical step.

From workflow systems to AI-based problem solving, software has only aided in giving more tools to the human mind to make professional tasks easier. What is to step some creative humans from going forward and placing these tools at the hand of a robot that brings its own brute computing into the picture.

Not far away is the future where a humanoid toting a tie would enter the workspace and work with a few colleagues. Expect, the colleagues may themselves be humanoids all capable of using several impressive capabilities of brute processing power, big data, and remarkable algorithms.

The entire office could be manned by an entrepreneur who managed to develop these robots in the first place. The entrepreneur, essentially a graduate in robotics, would be heading a law firm where the law is actually practiced by self-aware robots.

Of course, this is all conjecture. The reality may pan out to be a lot more bizarre than the human mind of today can predict.

Happy Roboting!

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From Online imagery to Door Step delivery, here's how robots are transforming Retail Logistics !

As economies grow and societies experience increase in demand for faster order fulfillments and accuracy in supply chain processes, there is an increasing pressure on manufacturers and supply chain management providers to come up with a way to meet consumer demands. While the demand for such orders should automatically translate to increase in workforce productivity, the transition has been anything but smooth. With the increasing costs in labour, players across the the retail logistics industry have found it hard to meet the demand.

Luckily, thanks to the advent of robotics and autonomy, some innovations have taken over the drudgery involved in logistics and supplemented the efforts of the human labour force. Also, the future in the logistics industry looks quite promising with a lot more innovations on the way that can fundamentally change the way the industry operates by bringing in efficiency and high technology.

Let’s see a few use cases where robotics have changed or can change the way logistics industry operates.

Use Case #1: Warehouse management using robots

 If you are looking at the above image and are wondering what is, here’s some interesting tidbit for you. The above image is of Amazon’s Kiva robots. Kiva robots, a product of Amazon Robotics, is a revolution in the logistics and warehousing industry. Ever since introduction at Amazon’s logistics and warehousing facilities, Kiva has transformed the way products are hand-picked and shipped from the storage. It is an autonomous heavy duty robot which lifts crates of products and brings it directly to the hands of the packaging personnel who then ship the product to the consumer. This is a revolutionary technology that has changed the world of warehouse management. 

Use Case #2: Automation of Order picking

Order picking operation is a major process in logistic warehouses. Involving the activities of taking and collecting articles in a specified quantity before shipment, it has an important influence on supply chain's productivity. This process, which has been manual until now has seen some robotic entrants who could potentially disrupt the process. Amazon, which kicked off its inaugural Picking Challenge last year, has encouraged teams around the world to create robots able to perform the task of an Amazon stock picker. This year the competition was expanded to include not only picking items from a shelf and placing them in a container, but the reverse as well – and a team from the Netherlands has claimed victories in both.

Use Case #3: Last-Mile Delivery

With the advent of the online retail giants, we as consumers have been exposed to the luxury of “Doorstep Delivery”. While it is a sweet deal for the consumers, for the service provider several pain-points exist- the most important being physical fatigue of the delivery boys. Interestingly, Mercedes Benz has had an interesting take on this problem. It has teamed up with drone company Matternet to create a concept vehicle dubbed the Vision Van which would deploy drones from its rooftop to carry packages over the final leg of their journey.

Read more here

These are just a few ways where robotics have the potential to eliminate the human element. This would usher in the era where consumer satisfaction and lean processes rule the roost and make processes efficient on count of being automated.

Happy Roboting ! !

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Geek Speak: Navaratri Special Edition

It’s the final day of Navratri and we couldn’t be more happier. Called the day of Vijayadasami, it signifies the day when good trounces evil. While there had no battle against evil here at Kidobotikz, there was one stiff competition underway though- the competition to get robots on the Kolu stairs. 

Upon announcement of the Kolu display at Kidobotikz, dozens of students visited the center and were eager to get their robots on display. Students spent the first half of their dusshera holidays developing their Kolu-themed projects. The next half was spent displaying these on the stands at Kidobotikz. Quite a few number of entries were received and owing to space constraints, a few of them had to be not displayed at the stands. We’ve picked a few of the projects that had turned quite a few heads and have featured them here.

1) Thirumalai Thirupathi Oonjal Sevai by A.V Sangeetha

The theme of this project is to emulate the traditional swing on which the deity at Tirupati is customarily placed upon as a part of the Brahmotsavam celebrations. This project, done by Kidobotikzian A.V Sangeetha, makes use of a couple of B.O motors, and an arduino board to induce an oscillatory motion in the motors. Suspended from the B.O Motors is the Oonjal.

2) Blessing Ganesh by A Shiekh and S. Sai Manivanan 

Using nothing but a starter shield and a BO motor, these young roboticists have created a Blessing Ganesh picture frame that has an automated trunk. Whenever, one takes their arm near the image, the trunk of Lord Ganesh will rise up and bless the devotee.

3) Automated Kumkum and Manjal offering by Mrithun Chockalingam 

This project is a rather neat looking one with a lot of functionality built into it. There’s an idol of Lord Ganesh in the middle with a small motor mounted umbrella behind him. In the front, the two small cups of kumkum and turmeric are placed on small plates. These are connected to two BO motors that are concealed below the boxes. The motors are connected to IR sensors. So, when someone brings their palms near to Lord ganesha to touch his feet, the sensors detect the palms and the small motors rotate the containers above.

4) Ranganatha being fanned by Balaji S.Rao 

To add some robotics to mythology, Balaji Rao came up with this concept. It depicts the image of how Lord Ranganatha is fanned while he rests upon a serpent in his holy abode. Balaji made a slow rotating fan with a torque motor that will look like someone is fanning the god. To achieve the same, he has used a custom made fan blade and connected it to a BO motor via a long stick. 

We wish all a very happy Navaratri and hope to see more such interesting projects next year.

Happy Roboting !

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Kidobotikz @ DIDAC INDIA 2016

   “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards towards the technology” ~ Steve Jobs

Going by the words of this tech-visionary, it makes sense that when you’ve got a wonderful product on hand, it is always wise to take it out there and get as many people to place their opinion on it. That is how you figure out whether the entire world shares the opinion of your product the same way your core followers do.

That being said, we at Kidobotikz took the step of showcasing our wares at DIDAC INDIA- 2016, held in Bengaluru between 28th-30th September, 2016, to explore more possible applications for our model of education.

About the event, DIDAC INDIA is the most influential trade event in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region for Educational Industry. Featuring players in the fields of Educational Material, Training & Technology based solutions for all levels and sectors of the Indian Education & Training Industry, it is a platform to reach out to thousands of leaders and professionals from across the globe and gain visibility in the fastest progressing industry.

The Exhibition cum Conference is a meeting point of the international Education and Training industry. Exhibitors from various countries around the globe attend this annual event to present several latest and innovative technologies, modern instruments, solutions, inventive materials, latest methodology for all levels and sectors of education and training. That being said, participating in Didac helps players know more about the existing solutions available across the educational sector and figure out how the right application of technology can enhance the existing educational practices in the system. 

Unsurprisingly, a large number of visitors to DIDAC were Educators, Schools and other industry professionals who explored the annual event to identify the right solution for the challenges they may be facing in imparting knowledge.

Kidobotikz being an EdTech company was benefited as DIDAC offered the best platform to know more about the kind of challenges faced by the burgeoning educational industry and its core players, the students themselves. Being a first time participant, Kidobotikz was represented by a strong contingent to position ourselves in the right manner to capture as many benefits as we could from the 3 day event. A major focus was on apprising the visitors of the core philosophy of Kidobotikz and its journey from a classroom based interactive model to an Interactive and Gamified Online model. Visitors were impressed to find out about the various student-driven projects such as SwachhBot and AgriBot being undertaken at Kidobotikz. 

Says Sanjana, a member of the team that represented Kidobotikz at Didac, ”While in name it was a B2B trade event, DIDAC actually was a conclave of like-minded firms across the EdTech industry. With hundreds of participating firms, one really could not help but wonder the innovativeness of different solutions that are available in the education market. With all teams sharing their unique experience about being a player in the EdTech industry, it was a truly enriching experience. Being able to represent Kidobotikz and convey our vision for disrupting the education system at this platform was a personal best.”

With footfalls ranging between 200-300 over the course of the three days, and several interested educators enquiring about the Kidobotikz model of immersive online education and robotics kits, we would like to say “Mission Accomplished!”.

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Kidobotikzians rewrite the history of Farming with AgriBot

For most of you who know a thing or two about Agriculture, it should not come as a surprise that Farming is inherently a laborious process. All of us have at one point in our lives been to the rural countryside and witnessed the happenings on patches of lands under cultivation. 

However, amidst all the sightseeing and nature watching, what most of us don’t realize is the fact that farming is not just about clearing a piece of land, watering it and seeding it with grains. It’s a major science onto itself. The process of farming requires a lot of labour with the inherent activities such as ploughing, seed laying, irrigation and manuring. More importantly, it also involves the process of weeding. Weeds which arise a few after the seeds have been laid deprive the soil of vital nutrients and compete with the crops for resources such as water and sunlight. These undesirable plants wreak havoc on the crop by competing for resources.

The processes of removing these invaders from the furrows is a highly labour intensive task and one that has remained manual for centuries.

What if we said that Kidobotikz has engineered a solution for this niche issue?

Say hello to AgriBot.

Ananya Hi-Tech Farms in association with Kidobotikz is developing AgriBot, a four wheeled robotic assistant that can take over the activity of farming from humans. It is a robot that has been envisioned with a desire to reduce the burden on farmers and optimise the entire process of farming. Kidobotikz with its talented pool of students and a dedicated R&D team has taken this up as a challenge and develop a well engineered Agribot which is capable of taking over the field from humans and introducing high technology in the area of farming.

This is the first time such a robot has been developed in the country. The 9 membered team which developed this robots consists entirely of school students. To develop the robot from scratch to completion, the team took under 2 months. 

To say more about AgriBot, it is a wheeled robotic assistant that has compact dimensions optimised to take over narrow passageways between furrows of crops. The robot consists of a universal drive train, which currently fitted with a weeder, can be retrofitted in the future to suit other applications such as seed laying. Running at a leisurely pace of 15 RPM, the robot can cover a patch of land measuring 250 meters in length in less than an hour. Working in tandem, a swarm of such robots can remove the weeds from a vast patch of land in record time. At present, weeding done manually takes weeks to be completed. Automating this process can help farmers monitor other vital parameters of the crop such as plant health, nutrient levels etc. 

As a part of its Beta-testing, it was deployed for weeding at one of Ananya Farms’ Capsicum plantations in Hosur where the weeding process is currently manual. With the successful completion of AgriBot's  Beta-testing, it is now expected that Agribot will make this process efficient with its automation.

AgriBot @Ananya Hi-Tech Farms

Happy Roboting!

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Formal Vs. Informal learning: Which side should one lean upon?

What is the best way of undergoing Education? This is a question that is as old as mankind itself.

Well, if one has to think there are two major ways of educating one’s self.

The first would be the ubiquitous formal education. This would be enrolling oneself to the various existing institutions of learning. Formal education is classroom-based where the instruction would be through teachers, faculty what have you. 

Informal education, on the other hand, would encompass every learning activity that happens outside the classroom. These could be after-school programs, community-based organizations, museums, libraries, or at home. Perhaps an even more pronounced example of this form of learning would be learning through the internet. 

With the advent of internet based learning opportunities, there’s been a constant upheaval among the defenders of the two camps. 

On one side, we have educators who say yay for formal education and nay for informal education, while on the other side we have people who feel that formal education has outlived its utility in the information age where every bit of learning as important as the ones that are a part of the regular curriculum.

The debate over these two forms of education has always remained high pitched. So, where is the middle ground?

Well if there is a middle ground, it lies where the best attributes of these two forms of education are taken into consideration.

Formal education while having the disciplined structure that is required for sustained learning tends to miss out on the variety that informal learning can offer. Teachers need to meet educational standards and stick to a specified curriculum, which can make it difficult for them to incorporate nontraditional content. 

Informal education on the other hand incentivizes learning with the pleasure of satisfaction. It gives the freedom to learner and he or she is free to learn it the way they see it. But, more often than not a student or candidate who wishes to learn online tends to get disoriented on what he/she should actually be learning; a learning experience that is just fun but not of relevance.

How can this be overcome? 

Well, the most logical way to do the same would be to bring together elements of fun from informal learning to the disciplined aspects of formal education.

Does such a system exist? Can it be practical? Will it be of relevance to the current scenario of high intense STEM learning?

Yes, it will be. We at Kidobotikz have been promoting a confluence between the facets of formal and informal learning through our online platform. We’ve incorporated the elements of gamification into some serious concepts of robotics to bring about a curriculum that makes STEM learning a fun activity

Happy Roboting!

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Will Robots take over our Jobs? So what?

Will Robots take over our Jobs? What if they do?

Sounds like a very ominous scenario, doesn’t it?

Well, yeah. Robots are replacing humans in a variety of scenarios. Automation is appearing everywhere. Regardless of humans and the pace at which they adapt themselves to the truth, innovations in areas like robotics, computerized algorithms, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, medical sensors and machine-to-machine communications, 3-D printing, and autonomous vehicles will increasingly transform the global economy. They are expected to make the processes efficient and smoother, thereby even displacing many in the human workforce.

So are the possible outcomes somewhat similar to the following imagery?

1) Jobs being replaced by so called “machines with a brain"

2) Humans taking orders from their new robot masters? 

3) Robots competing with humans for jobs and resources.

Funnily enough, the aforementioned scenarios are too ridiculous to be true. AI or robots taking over humans makes good fodder for science fiction but does not hold true in the actual realm. Here, robots are automating processes and activities but not poaching on the livelihoods of humans. If anything, the demand for skilled labour has only gone up. 

Yes, we are talking about STEM. Students from the STEM curricula are in demand around the planet. As more and more automation occurs, the more is requirement for qualified students and professionals who are capable of operating or fine tuning these processes. If anything, the day of the average worker with vocational skills are gone, but it’s sunshine for the one with the right skillsets- possibly in the fields of electronics, computers, mechanics, processes and mathematics.

STEM degrees as % of all degrees in 2011

Facts show that across the BRICS nations and the western world, engineers as a community are the ones in demand (not in quanity but quality). 

Moral of the story?

As we churn out more robots, so do we need to churn out engineers capable of supervising these behemoths.

If you are a engineer or a wanna-be engineer, you can give it a rest and not fret over it. Robots are taking over our jobs, yes; but not making us redundant! They are instead giving us a responsibility of ensuring they do their jobs. 

Happy Roboting ! !

Image credits: The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education
What's the Big Deal?
CNN Money

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Robots have transformed agriculture. Here's how!

When we think of Farming, our mind immediately races to the images of farmers and their oxen dredging in the fields. Farming has always remained the dominion of human labour with either beasts of burden or expensive machines supplementing their efforts.

The concepts of accuracy, prediction or cutting edge technology are always one that have remained unassociated with agriculture. All of that has changed in the past few years- thanks to robotics!

While there are a few naysayers behind the entry of robotics into the area of agriculture, most are happy to embrace automation, especially when it helps boost income and reduce stress. But whether you love robots, fear them, or just can’t look away, they are upending farming as we know it. We would like to present to you some of those mean machines which have turned quite a few heads.

1) Wine Bot

Created by a french inventor named Christophe Millot, this self-propelled robot is used for pruning vines, removing young shoots, and monitoring soil and vine health. Millot named his bot Wall-Ye, an interesting tribute to the beloved animated film character. Wall-Ye incorporates a tight security system. It is designed in such a way that it can be commanded to operate at pre-designated vineyards and any intervention with an malicious intent will only result in the self-destruction of the hard drive.

2) Bee Bot

Harvard engineers have unveiled a teeny-tiny bee bot dubbed RoboBee. Allegedly to be the smallest flying robot ever made the goals of this cute little robot are broad and have far reaching impact on the planet. It finds potential applications in everything from autonomous pollination to post-disaster search and rescue. In the UK, researchers are working on an autonomous bee with a more structured goal. They want to map the honeybee brain so they can completely synthesize bee behavior — and keep the world’s food chain intact.

3) SwagBot

SwagBot, designed by the Australian Centre for Field Robotics, has been conceived with a unique purpose in mind. It is designed to monitor and interact with crops and plants, along with animals roaming about the farm. The omni-directional, all-wheel drive electric robot is built to withstand rugged terrain and can even take trailers along for the ride. The team recently let SwagBot loose on a cattle farm where it towed a trailer, interacted with horses, rolled across fallen logs and powered through streams.

4) Farmbot

Farmbot Genesis is an open source, autonomous farming system that is supposed to fit virtually anyone’s backyard, greenhouse or rooftop. Sensors make it possible to leverage real-time data about soil. Additionally a camera monitors plant health—when it detects weeds, it removes them autonomously. Offering a huge list of mods and add-ons—from rainwater collection to compost to resource management—there’s a lot of customization possible.

Last but not least, 

5) Case IH Concept Vehicle

We’ve reserved this behemoth for the last. Quite a burly monster, this technology is expected to turn the agricultural world on its head. The Case IH Concept, which dropped the cabin of a tractor to envision what the future of self-driving tractors might look like. This autonomous tractor is designed to be remotely monitored and programmed. It uses a combination of sensors to detect obstacles and warn farmers, asking them to plot the ideal course around it without tearing up the field. It packs features such telematics for remote management of farm machinery. 

At this juncture, it is also worth to mention the fact we at Kidobotikz are also doing our bit to the field of agriculture by making our own robot optimised for agriculture. Called Agribot, this robot is packs in quite a few features that will make it an asset for any farmer.

Happy Roboting ! !

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The Great Indian Engineering Bungle ! !

If we’ve had a look at the calendars today, not many of us would’ve bothered to look twice. It is a relatively normal date, September 15. But what the many of us do not know is that today is Engineer’s day, a day that commemorates the birthday of Shri. M. Visvesvaraya, a great Indian engineering juggernaut.

However, are we actually celebrating the Indian engineering education scenario? Not quite. India’s education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to the economic rise of India. The size of India’s higher education market is about $40 billion per year. Presently about 12.4 percent of students go for higher education from the country. If India were to increase that figure of 12.4% to 30%, then it would need another 800 to one thousand universities and over 40,000 colleges in the next 10 years. 

India, with more than a billion residents, has the second largest education system in the world (after China). But contrary to the image of India as a youthful engine of economic growth where many urban-based citizens work in some of the best technology-centered jobs in the world, the ground reality is such that many technically qualified students are found to be wanting in technical skills. Skills which signify a person’s cognitive capabilities and technical acumen seem to be relatively low in the new generation of engineering graduates that are churned out of India’s 3,345 engineering colleges.

If there’s a key take away from this, it has to be the fact that the education system seems to falter in a few key areas. Thanks to the Indian attitudes of “रट लेना” , most students tend to just rush through concepts in the last moment, memorize them and leave with half baked knowledge for the examinations. Once they are done with examinations, the whole subject or concept becomes useless to them. The practical learning of concepts is something these students give less credence to. 

When such is the state, how can a culture of innovation and competition thrive in an ecosystem where thousands of engineers with basically zero understanding of concepts are made to sit in front of personnel from the industry who are on the lookout for talent that has a practical understanding of the industry. This is one of the main reasons why a majority of engineers in our country are considered unemployable.

How can this be changed? By endless lectures to bored audiences? A big NO.

The indian engineering scenario cannot be changed at the superficial level. It needs change at the grassroots level- the schooling. If every student is shown the importance of creativity and the significance of practically learning his concepts, whether be it Science or Math, he/she would shun from memorizing concepts and rather try to learn them. 

Concepts in STEM learning can be learnt using innovative activities such as building miniature working models of cars, aircraft or robots. This will help them fine tune their understanding of vital concepts of science and technology and understand the inner workings behind major tech. 

Let us save budding engineers from the indian education scenario and earn them the future they deserve.

Happy Engineers Day ! 

Happy Roboting ! !

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Introducing VIPER, a must have for roboticists.

“All good things come in small packages”. This is a famous saying that most of us are aware of.

We have now come up with our own version of a “small package” !

SP Robotic Works, the parent company of Kidobotikz is proud to unveil the VIPER series of motor drivers. VIPER is a state of the art speed control motor driver which has been developed to cater to the burgeoning demand for speed control motor drivers in both the industries and the academia. This product builds on the tradition of SP Robotic Works which has churned out several cutting edge motor drivers in the past such as Phoenix and Fireblade. 

This motor driver which has been developed by the in-house R&D team, the same team responsible for the Kidobotikz series of Robotics educational kits, packs in quite a lot of capabilities. It is a highly efficient and easy to use dual motor driver which can be used on a wide range of DC motors that are available on the market. Having a rating of 25 Amps, this can be used in a variety of applications. 

Says Ranganath, a member of the R&D team which developed the Viper, ”For students of roboting across the country, finding a high-quality motor driver with high rating has always been an issue. Not many products are available across the country and consumers always have relied upon imports from western nations for such motor drivers. As has always been with imported products, the costs and warranty has been an issue. The unavailability of such a product has always piqued the interests of the SPRW team. The efforts which culminated in this direction resulted in the development of the VIPER. 6 months of concerted efforts and testing finally paid off.” 

A key difference between VIPER and it’s predecessors is the fact that VIPER involves speed control functions that many products across the market are not capable of. Unlike other relay based controller boards, Viper has sophisticated electronics such as MOSFETS to make the control smoother, enable speed control and also generates the necessary combination of signals for the user. Such advanced features make the control of robots effortless. The functionality of Viper is rich as well. It enables 9 functions on the controls - forward, reverse, spot left, spot right, forward right, forward left, reverse left, reverse right and stop with the additional option of Speed Control. VIPER is one of its kind to have reverse polarity protection which is a feature unheard of in the market. By this feature the endurance and durability of the VIPER is maintained.

While all these features make it a formidable and impressive option for students and roboticists, there’s another major reason why SP Robotic works takes pride in the VIPER. SPRW is the first company in India and only the 4th company in the world to have developed such a product. 

So, what are the applications that can use VIPER?

“VIPER can be used in several industrial DC motors which work on a high current. Apart from this, it can also be used in applications where the speed control is desired to be accurate. These applications could range in sophistication from Unmanned Ground Vehicles to Automated Garage Opening doors.” opines Ranganath, who had himself felt the need for such a low cost speed control driver during his college days. Today he is proud to be associated with a product that actually solves a problem that had plagued his projects. 

Are you robotics hobbyist? Do you like robots that display high torque and insane speed? Is it time to upgrade your existing race robots and sumo robots?

Then this piece of news will surely have you pumped up!

If you wish to get yourself a VIPER, visit here.

Happy Roboting ! !

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3 Ways robots are helping students

Robots changing the education system? Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Well, the ground reality shows otherwise. As technologies advance, the presence of robots in our life will become more pronounced. But does this mean that we are in a rather futuristic situation where robots have actually replaced the faculty? Not currently! But, if the signs hold true, we are headed in a direction that is quite positive.

However, the current situation is not quite bad either. Robots are still primitive, less futuristic and more of wires, but they have already managed to pull off a significant impact on certain areas.

In particular, their impact on the classrooms of today are one that makes us sit up and observe. Here are three ways that robots have been used that legitimately benefit students:

1. Intelligent toy robots

In the past few years, several new innovations have led to the arrival of cute little toy robots that serve many purposes. These give company to children and take on the role of their pets. Designed to be aesthetically appeasing and cute in general, these robots are in effect stress busters for scores of adults and play buddies for thousands of children. More importantly, these robots help students balance their stressful evenings with bout of joyful interaction.

2. Teaching Students with Autism

It is a known fact that young children autism usually find a hard time in social interactions. They find it very difficult to develop rapport with their teachers and fellow students. However, studies show that they are comfortable with robots. Experts believe this connection is made more easily because autistic children prefer the lack of emotion and eye contact that they get from the robots.

For this reason, some special education classrooms have purchased robots that can lead autistic children in a variety of lessons to improve their fundamental skills. Though robots won’t be replacing teachers anytime soon, having them available to provide supplemental education is a plus for these students who tend to shy away from human contact.

3. Teaching STEM through robotics.

This is by far the most important intervention by robotics into the education system. Thanks to the efforts by several educators and visionaries, the world of robotics is now being used as a stepping stone in mainstream education to make concepts more relatable and easier for parsing for the innovators for tomorrow. Concepts such as robotics kits are now transforming the way students learn their educational concepts. Robotics kits promote a practical way of learning.

We at Kidobotikz are a part of this proud tradition that is using robots to change the classrooms of tomorrow.

Happy roboting ! !

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Why should robotics kits be under every student's desk?

Teaching is a noble profession they say. It holds true for several reasons. Good teachers don’t happen overnight. They have to endure their fair share of struggle before they acquire their connoisseur in pedagogy. Students are not the easiest of bunches to handle. Nuff said.

For most teachers who work the classrooms of our country, it is a daunting task to ensure that their classrooms are attentive. Teachers may pin the blame on the attention span of students, but that rarely presents the complete picture. 

The reasons for such bored classrooms could be manifold. Wait with us patiently as we explore some of them.

Reason #1: Long explanations with not many cues for visualization.

It wouldn’t be completely wrong if students call teachers voluble. It’s often difficult for teachers to stop talking. They earnestly try to help students understand concepts and make connections that they consume far too much time in explaining thoughts or ideas. While the attention to detail in ensuring proper knowledge transfer in appreciated, teachers often veer off the topic and leave most of the students gasping for a break.

Reason #2: Lack of Spontaneity

Teachers tend to get monotonous in their teaching. When subjects from the STEM background- such as Physics, Electronics or math- are taught teachers put in efforts to ensure that their course plan is structured and does not miss out on any important concept. While this effort to create a structure in the teaching process ensures course completion, teachers more often than not lack spontaneity in the process. This is bound to make the subjects and classes boring to students who are there to experience difference.

Reason #3: Repetition

It’s tough for teachers bring out their excitement when they’ve been using the same classnotes year on year. When they themselves lack the excitement and curiousity, how can one expect the same to translate to the students in the classroom. Students feel one with the concepts that get them curious and amazed. When there is nonchalant repetition in the manner of teaching, it defeats the whole purpose of discovering one’s purpose through learning. Equally saddening is the fact every student in the class churns out the same projects. 

How can this be changed? Why should the burden or responsibility for inspiring students and keeping them engaged be shouldered only by teachers? It would make the whole task easier if teachers could use a tool that make their classes engaging for students. Learning necessarily does not need to be monotonous and boring. It can be fun and desirable.

We at Kidobotikz believe that the answer to the above mentioned conundrum could be our Kidobotikz kits. Kidobotikz’s robotics kits makes the whole process of learning fun and makes it as fulfilling as play.

Happy Roboting ! !

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