Geek Speak: Maahir Ali

The week after the world record has been quite tiring. There’s been quite a lot of hustle bustle about the event from all corners and the team at Kidobotikz has been working at the same frenetic pace as before the event even a week after the event. There are still a few ends that have to be tied. Prizes, Certificates and Trophies are still to be dispatched to a few participants. The thing that keeps all going through the day is the joy we get from meeting kids over the weekend. It’s 5 O’clock on Saturday and I am here to meet the kids to find what they’ve been upto over the week following the World Record. I do the usual thing of waiting near the corner of the classroom and grab a student or two who’s rushing to his class after being late by a whisker.

The catch of today is an interesting extrovert. Meet Maahir Ali, the extrovert. He studies in class 8th of National Public School, Gopalapuram and immediately lights up on knowing that I did my schooling there too. Soon after his introduction, he is quite excited in sharing all the details I ask about him. He is pursuing his Advanced level here at Kidobotikz and has already notched up quite a few achievements to his name. He has already built Mopping robot, a soccer bot among others and he is just getting started. He wants to built a robot that is capable of washing dishes and he has already enrolled himself as a part of the team that is learning how to built Telepresence robots. Back at the world record he claims to have completed his ATV bot is 6 minutes and 50 seconds. He says his desire in the area of robotics is so much that he has already decided to make it his career. He wishes to pursue his B.Tech in IIT-Madras and M.Tech in Mechatronics from the same institution. He has already considered joining his JEE preparatory classes from next year. That’s a whole lot of vision from an 8th grader. I ask him what does he do in his spare time and he says he’s started reading a lot about Arduino because the applications with it are quite interesting. I ask him if he has planned anything beyond his IIT dreams and he says he wants to make a living by building Humanoid robots for daily use leaving me utterly dumbfounded. If anything, robotics does not just empower students, it makes them think in a whole  new level of holism.

Happy Roboting ! !

Read More

Robotic glove tech developed for space station adapted by GM for newer applications

A robotic glove that was originally designed for use on the International Space Station (ISS) has been licensed for use back home, where it could be put to work helping manufacturing workers. Developed in partnership between General Motors (GM) and NASA, the RoboGlove is designed to provide the user with extra gripping strength.

The RoboGlove makes use of numerous sensors, tendons and actuators that are designed to mimic the muscles, nerves and tendons of the human hand. It was developed during a nine-year collaboration between GM and NASA, which included sending the Robonaut 2(R2) into space in 2011. Technology from R2, which was required to be able to operate tools made for humans, was incorporated into the RoboGlove.

The glove features pressure sensors in the fingers, with synthetic tendons retracting when a gripping motion is detected, holding the hand in place to reducing strain.

During the development of the RoboGlove, back in 2012, NASA spoke about how useful it might be in assisting users both in space and back home. The agency stated that while a factory worker, or an astronaut on a spacewalk, might have to exert 15-20 lbs (7-9 kg) of pressure when using a tool, the glove tech could lower that requirement to as little as 5-10 lbs (2.3-4.5 kg) of force.

With GM now eyeing up uses for the device back home, it could find a place in a number of settings, from manufacturing to health care. GM spent a little time testing out the current version of the glove in its plants, but has now licensed it out to Swedish medical tech company Bioservo Technologies for further development.

The company will work to refine the tech to fit varying hand sizes, while combining it with its own healthcare-focused servo glove technology. Its initial plan is to develop the grasp-assist device for industrial use, allowing workers to grip for extended periods of time without encountering muscle fatigue.

If all goes to plan, GM will be the first company to use the robotic glove, with plans to test the device out in its factories. If it proves successful, it could be used for practically anything that requires assisted or enhanced gripping capabilities, including medical rehabilitation applications.

Source: Gizmag, GM, NASA

Read More

Geek Speak: A Chat with the record holders, Surya & Shailesh

It’s been a good 6 days since the record was set and some of our record holders were finally back at Kidobotikz after an exciting week at school. The record event had made these otherwise geeky mid-schoolers into celebrities back at school. Both teachers and classmates have been awed by the record set by these wunderkinds and many of these students have been heaped praises in front of the morning assembly. The ones that missed out on the praises this week probably have one due in the upcoming weeks.

I enter the lobby of Kidobotikz and find familiar faces all around. The guys who had taken part in the record last week are here to continue with their usual business of learning robotics. I see these guys hurriedly getting into their classes as they’re a couple of minutes late. I play spoilsport in their efforts by stopping a couple of them to get a few words out of them. That’s how I get to meet our focus for today- Surya and Shailesh.

Surya Yank Clement, a rather interesting name for an 8th grader, is the first of the two who is ready to forego a few minutes of his class. He is here to take part in his classes for the advanced level. He belongs to PSBB millennium and rather helps me spell out the word ‘millennium’ correctly as I scribble down on my notepad. Surya for all his silent demeanour is rather notorious back at Kidobotikz. He has already participated in KRG and says he made into 2 rounds. This young fellow is quite upbeat about his record, but he hasn’t told his teachers and peers that he was part of the world record event out of shyness. I ask him what he wants to be and i get the same unanimous answer i get here from every Kidobotikz student- Robotics engineer. For those of you who didn’t attend the event, Surya set a record within the world record. He was the first to complete the ATV Robot- his favourite kind of robot- at the event among all the 103 participants.

As I wave him off to his class, I talk our next friend Shailesh. Shailesh is a year younger to Surya and studies at Pon Vidyashram. He is also with Surya in the Advanced level and is rather excited about the record he has set. He says he’s been bragging about it all week at school. Says he’s quite excited about this record as he has desired to learn robotics from a very young age. He doesn’t wanna stop here. He wants to move onto win prizes at KRG in August and wants to pursue higher studies in robotics as well. He feels his ultimate desire is to build a line of Humanoid robots.

Robotics sure can change the face of the planet. If this World Record hasn’t brought us to the tipping point for robotics based education, it has definitely put us on the right path towards it.   

Happy Roboting ! !

Read More

South Korea's nationwide IoT network completed six months early

The race to roll out a nationwide network for Internet of Things (IoT) devices may have come to a photo finish. When Dutch telecommunications company KPL announced last week that the Netherlands was the first country to switch on a nationwide IoT network, it seemed to beat South Korea to the punch. But SK Telecom reported on Monday that it has also completed its own network across South Korea, announcing prices for its IoT services and its future plans for the network.

SK Telecom completed construction of the nationwide LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) servicing 99 percent of South Korea by the end of June, which puts the rollout six months ahead of schedule. It joins the existing LTE-M infrastructure that was completed in March. Together, the two technologies form the IoT network, which will allow public, private and commercial smart devices to capture and process data for various purposes.

Over the next few months, the company plans to focus on several applications for the service, including Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), a two-way communication system between a utility company and smart meters in customers' homes that means usage data can be gathered remotely, and services switched on or off without sending staff to the premises.

The service can host devices that track the location of people, vehicles, objects and assets, as needed. For instance, SK is working with local governments on Safe Watch, a smartwatch for children and the elderly that lets parents or carers keep track of the wearer, which launches later this month.

Monitoring is also a key focus, which will allow manufacturing and commercial facilities to manage the safety and efficiency of their equipment and environment. Temperature, humidity, CO2 concentration and hazardous materials in the soil and air can all be monitored to maintain desired levels.

A Partner Hub Program was also announced, with the goal of encouraging more businesses and startups to develop devices and services for the network. To that end, SK Telecom is providing 100,000 LoRa modules for free to developers, and running a program called IoT Open Testbed to offer consulting, training and marketing for partners.

Source: Gizmag, SK Telecom

Read More

Record worthy Coverage for a World Record Event ! !

Kidobotikz Students at Chennai 101 Live FM

Coverage on Daily Thandhi

The success of any event is usually determined by the impact it has on the public memory both before and after it occurs. While most events are discussed casually in informal gatherings and are usually given credence only as a part of gossip. The discussions don't yield to much and are usually erased from memory not long after. But, then there are a few events, which create so much buzz that the general populace cannot have enough of it. Everywhere you turn around you hear minds of various caliber discuss these events and the buzz surrounding the event doesn't abate for quite some time. The World Record by the students of Kidobotikz was one such event.

The entire grapevine was abuzz about the activity leading up to the event . Now that its been half a week since the event and yet people still cannot get enough of it. For it is not quite often that one gets to witness a world record, much less a one that was set by school kids.

The days leading up to the event were filled with inquiries from various sections of the print and social media trying to get more information about the event and the kids taking part in it. Every caller had a sigh of disbelief when they found out that the kids setting the record were kids of age not elder than 17.

Kidobotikz Kids with Chutti TV for an intervieww before the event

The premises of Kidobotikz were thronged by media persons from various television channels and radio stations trying to get a interview or two out of the participants of the world record event. News channels like Sun News and Thanthi TV covered the event, while Chennai Live - 104.8 FM took the students on air with their talk show and had an interesting interview with them. Chutti TV actually went a step ahead and decided to do a live telecast of our program on their facebook page. The video has ever since garnered quite a lot of attention. 4 days have elapsed since the successful conclusion of the World Record and people haven’t forgotten us yet. Every photo and video post related to the event have garnered a lot of likes and shares. The entire team behind behind the event is quite thrilled at the outcome of the event. It reiterates the fact that if you try hard and change the world’s perception on an issue, the world’s perception of you changes.

 

Read More

RemoveDebris to launch space cleanup demonstrator

According to the Surrey Space Centre, there are some 7,000 tonnes (7,716 tons) of space debris circling the Earth, consisting of dead satellites, booster rocket stages, paint chips, and shrapnel from collisions. Whizzing in orbit at tens of thousands of miles per hour, even a small fragment could destroy a satellite. To help clean things up, the Centre has announced that it is leading a mission early next year to send the RemoveDebris demonstrator into orbit to test low-cost technologies that could be used to collect and remove space debris.

With the backing of the European Commission, the RemoveDebris mission is led by the Surrey Space Centre in partnership with Airbus, Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) and others. It consists of a small cubical satellite based on the SSTL X-50 platform and is designed to carry four experimental payloads, cameras, and bays for two cubesats that will play the part of "debris."

If everything goes according to schedule, RemoveDebris will travel to the International Space Station in early 2017, where it will be launched into space. It will then move into a lower orbit, to carry out four experiments before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere to burn up.

Net Experiment

In the first experiment, a cubesat designated DS-1 will be released. As it travels away from the satellite, it will inflate a balloon, which will act as a deorbit device while providing a larger target for RemoveDebris to aim at. When it reaches a range of about seven meters (23 ft), a weighted net developed by Airbus will be fired at the Cubesat.

The net will wrap around the satellite and the balloon while cameras record the results. The balloon will slow the cubesat down until it re-enters the atmosphere, though in a real operation the "debris" would be snared by the clean-up satellite and towed away for disposal.

Vision-Based Navigation (VBN) Experiment

In this, the second cubesat (DS-2) will be released and two stereoscopic vision-based navigation (VBN) cameras and a Lidar system will track it. The purpose of this is to test VBN systems under space conditions as a way of rendezvousing with and capturing tumbling space debris, such as a damaged or derelict satellite.

Harpoon and Deployable Target Experiment

The third experiment is a harpoon, which is designed to impale debris for collection. In this case, the satellite will deploy a 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 in) target on a boom sticking out 1.5 m (4.9 ft). The harpoon will fire at the target and a toggle will spring out to prevent it from slipping out again.

The final experiment involves the RemoveDebris satellite itself. When the other three experiments have been completed, it will release an umbrella-like mylar sail on carbon fiber booms and an inflation device will spread the sail out to a width of one meter (3.3 ft). Once in position, the sail will catch onto the tenuous remnants of the upper atmosphere and act like an airbrake in the same way as the balloon in the net experiment. The satellite will slow down, lose altitude, and eventually burn up on re-entry.

Dragsail Experiment

"Various orbits around the Earth that are commonly used for satellites and space missions are full of junk, which is a significant danger to our current and future spacecraft," says Dr Jason Forshaw, Surrey Space Centre project manager on the RemoveDebris team."Certain orbits – which are commonly used for imaging the earth, disaster monitoring and weather observation – are quickly filling up with junk, which could jeopardize the important satellites orbiting there. A future big impact between junk in that orbit could result in a real life 'Gravity-like' chain reaction of collisions. The international community needs to start working together now to remove space junk. The space around Earth is part of Earth's environment and keeping it clean is a common responsibility. Our mission, RemoveDebris, is one of the first concerted efforts to pioneer future technologies to remove space junk."

Source: Gizmag, Surrey Space Center

Read More

Making history : A retrospective recollection. . . .

It’s been 3 days since the World Record was set and the excitement here at Kidobotikz has still barely come down. For it not often that you witness a world record, much less be a part of it yourself. It was an absolute stunner of an event. The event was a spectacle for everyone who was there to witness it and it was kind of a see it to believe it event.

It is an absolute pleasure as I rekindle my memories of that day. The morning was rather a pleasant one at Bessy with all of us assembling there well before daybreak. With some time spent in arranging the stage and the tables for the stage, we awaited the arrival of students. Kids with all their early morning blues notwithstanding, were themselves punctual as we witnessed a strong entry of student just before dawn. Within a matter of 10~15 minutes all of them had arrived with their parents and were dressed in their Kidobotikz tees. Just as the sun’s orange rays filled the sky, it was a sea of blue at bessy in front of the actual sea.

As soon as the emcee arrived and registration began, all the students got registered and made a beeline to the makeshift assembly line. For the next half hour, the assembly line was a magician’s den as the kids started fashioning a full fledged ATV robot from scratch. There was absolute bonhomie among the kids as they raced against each other and time to get the robots completed. The entire process activity of getting the robots to foolproof working condition took the kids less than half hour. When the final student had completed his robot, it was just 32 minutes 16 seconds and the world record was set.

With this record set, the onus was for the next section of the event where all the assembled on the sand to ride their bots in a rally. 103 robots as against the originally envisaged 101 were assembled in a line on the beach and were rallied across the sand. By 7.50 AM the last bot was past the finish line bringing the curtains down on a memorable event. This was followed by a barrage of questions from onlookers and personnel from media. For the uninitiated, this record was one that they hadn’t fathomed in the wildest of their dreams. As the news of this event flowed across the city, the news started appearing on quite a few forums and the news is still making waves across the city.

Congrats to the kids’ efforts and their parents’ support.

Happy Roboting ! !        

Read More