Geek Speak: Siddhartha

Students that usually visit Kidobotikz are of a very different kind. They are usually very conservative with words. The thinkers that they are, they usually are of the introverted kind who prefer to run conversation on lesser. At least that is what was believed until today. All that perspective would be turned on its head if one met this young gentleman whose pride for robotics and his exploits in that field are quite immense. He’s back here at Kidobotikz after KRG to plan for a next event (which he prefers to keep confidential). 

Meet Siddhartha.N, a robotics prodigy who is a star back at Kidobotikz. He graduated way back in December 2014 and yet is a frequent visitor here to stay in touch with the vast student community of Kidobotikz. For him coming to Kidobotikz is something that he loves because it is here he discovered his passion. This robotics wizard has quite a few number of wins to his name at various national level robotic contests and has already won a few. To name a few, he’s the youngest champion in the history of IIT-Madras’s Annual Tech fest-Shaastra. He participated there in an open robotics event and won. Even as we speak, he is busy checking updates on a whatsapp group where people are discussing about the match where he was adjudged the winner. He was also a part of this edition of KRG where he participated in a number of events. A brief chat with him truly reveals how far this wunderkind has come. 

Hey Siddhartha! Must’ve been a wonderful KRG experience for you!

KRG is always an amazing experience for me. With the two day format, this edition of KRG was a success for Kidobotikz. For me though I will have to rue over the fact that I lost most of the events by a whisker. That is something that I am not gonna forget for quite sometime. But things happen and I look forward to the next upcoming events to make my mark felt.

That’s quite alright. Compared to what you’ve achieved with the IIT-M wins and NIT-Calicut wins, one off event isn’t all that bad.

So, why don’t you tell me about your experience with Kidobotikz and what Kidobotikz means to you?

Well, before Kidobotikz happened, I don’t even remember what I was up to. I mean Kidobotikz happened to me by sheer fate. My dad, who is a major encouragement for me in every aspect, one day came back home and told me about this place. He had come across one of the fliers and had checked it out. He asked me if I was willing to give it a try. I came, I saw and was consumed. Today I cannot believe that things like electronics, mechanics and programming are a major part of my life. 

Interesting. So, how do you think robotics has changed you?

Robotics has changed me in ways I could not have imagined. I see things differently now, I imagine about things in technical manner, the “how stuff works” part of it has become important to me now. It basically changed my personality. Even in terms of adulation, I’ve managed quite a lot of attention. I’ve been featured in several articles, newspapers and was once even on TV after Kidobotikz won the CNBC award. I owe all of this to Kidobotikz greatly. When I joined Kidobotikz, it was a small organization with a meagre strength of 8 staff. Today the organization has expanded with a lot of faculty and more number of events. I am happy for them and the entire community of Kidobotikzians.

My best wishes for you! To conclude our chat, I’d like to know your future plans and ambitions when you graduate from high school.

Well, after much thought I’ve decided that I will be doing Mechatronics in my graduation course. I have still not decided where I wanna do my undergrad but I’m absolutely sure that it will be in robotics or an allied subject.

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CNH Industrial unveils Self-driving tractors

There's been a lot of focus on consumer self-driving technology recently, but autonomy promises to shake things up in the agricultural world too. CNH Industrial's latest concepts aim to demonstrate how self-driving tractors can deliver faster, more precise results than their human controlled counterparts.

New Holland NH Drive Concept

It might look like your run-of-the-mill T8 Blue Power tractor, but the NH Drive is packing some clever self-driving hardware under its skin.

Thanks to its clever inbuilt software and the accompanying apps, farmers are able to kick back and watch as the tractor drives itself to a field, starts working and then returns itself to base afterwards. Okay, so it's not quite that simple: the (private) paths between the tractor's shed and the field need to be mapped, for one.

Once it arrives at the field, inbuilt software is able to consider its shape and size, along with the size of the implement attached to the back of the trailer, and plot the most efficient course around it. If the radar, LiDar or cameras detect an obstacle, the farmer is notified and asked to decide how the tractor should handle the obstruction.

That's not quite as easy as, say, just swerving around it, but when you're towing a massive trailer and trying to run in perfectly mapped straight lines, swerving isn't necessarily an option.

Farmers are able to control and monitor the NH Drive through the accompanying desktop and mobile software. There's a path-plotting screen and four live camera views, as well as data about engine speed and fuel levels. The system is also able to autonomously seed, and farmers are able to monitor and tweak a huge range of parameters surrounding seeding.

It's worth bearing in mind, self steering systems already exist. Keeping a tractor tracking straight along rough ground is actually quite difficult, as is following the same predetermined path perfectly. GPS farming systems already do this to a certain extent, although they lack the level of autonomy you get in the NH Drive concept.

Case IH Concept Vehicle

Even though it's loaded with clever self-driving tech, the NH Drive looks overwhelmingly normal. That doesn't hold true for the Case IH Concept, which drops the cabin to envision what the future of self-driving tractors might look like.

Like the other autonomous NH Drive, this was designed to be remotely monitored and programmed. It also uses the same combination of sensors to detect obstacles and warn farmers, asking them to plot the ideal course around it without tearing up the field.

"In many parts of the world, finding skilled labor during peak use seasons is a constant challenge for our customers," says Case IH Brand President Andreas Klauser.

"While we offer auto-steering and telematics on our equipment today for remote management of farm machinery and employees, this autonomous tractor concept demonstrates how our customers and their employees could remotely monitor and control machines directly."

Check the tractors out in action below.

Source: CNH Industrial, New Atlas

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Geek Speak: Omar Khalid Fakrul Kareem

It’s been 5 days since the end of KRG and things are finally back to the way they were. The event which was a gargantuan success has finally passed by and we are finally back after taking care of the entire gamut of post-event formalities. Meanwhile, back at Kidobotikz, it is Friday evening and students have started to trickle in after a long day at school. This being a long weekend, thanks to Ganesh Chaturthi on monday, one can expect three full days of roboting. It would be interesting to see how students will pay their obeisance to Lord Ganesh. Perhaps they might design a robotic version of the hindu deity. But again, these students have been engaged in enough robotics that could last for a month’s time or two. In the run up to KRG, most of these young minds were involved in close to 4 hours of robotics and related work everyday. It is only wise that they took a break from it for a while. And that’s exactly the last week must’ve helped them achieve. 

Meanwhile, I meet a young gentleman who is here after a memorable KRG. After being adjudged the winner in the Project Display, he is on cloud nine. Not just that, his school PSBB-KK Nagar was felicitated with a rolling shield for sending a contingent of excellent performers who won across all events. 

Before we talk on anything else, there’s quite a backstory to this chat. Omar, who we’ll be chatting with today, is quite a busy bee. On all the previous encounters I’ve met him, he was either busy with his bots or busy rushing for other activities after overstaying here at Kidobotikz. A chat with him has always eluded me, that is until today. I finally catch up him while he is yet again on his way hurrying out of the Kidobotikz makerspace place after a casual drop-by. I finally convince him to get a chat out of him. Kidobotikz, for him, is a favourite hangout spot.

Hey Omar! Must’ve been a wonderful KRG experience for you!

KRG is always an amazing experience for me. Here it is all about roboting and making new friends. This KRG was no different for me either. Made a few robots, won an event and made some great friends.

That’s quite interesting, How was your experience of being adjudged winner in the project display event?

Well, the event had a “Clean India” theme. Everyone else had plans to build a robot that was capable of cleaning and doing other chores. But, I just thought the country needed a helping hand for making itself cleaner. So, decided upon making a bionic arm that signifies the dexterity required for cleaning. Luckily, the judges were happy with my forethought and gave me the prize. 

Interesting. So, how does it feel to be a robotics hobbyist? 

Robotics for me is a highly passionate hobby. It has given some important life lessons such as being cautious with every step, making innovative things, understanding the importance of every ounce of knowledge etc. Even in my everyday life, robotics has made me something of a thinker. Not only am I now aware of how things work, but I can also make things on my own. When I first joined Kidobotikz 11/2 years ago, I had joined out of my own interest after finding out about them. I can now proudly say that my interest had paid off! 

Impressive! So, what is your take-away from this KRG and what do you aim to do in the next KRG?

Well, my proudest moment would be lifting up the trophy for our school. My own wins is something I will always cherish. Also, this is my successive “Project Expo” win. I wanna probably make it a hat-trick the next time. 

My best wishes for you! To conclude our chat, I’d like to know your future plans and ambitions when you graduate from Kidobotikz and high school

Well, I have no concrete plans yet. But I do wanna do robotics at one of the IITs or abroad when I leave high school. Other than that, I plan to take up everything as it comes by.

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Domino's colloborate with Flirtey to deliver Pizzas at doorsteps. . . .

Delivery drones hold the potential to one day completely overhaul the way we move all kinds of things, but right now a lot of people want answers to more simple queries, such as how quickly can they bring me a textbook, burrito or a pizza? Residents of New Zealand will soon be well-placed to answer these questions, with Domino's set to trial the first pizza drone delivery service later this year.

The pizza giant will use US-based drone startup Flirtey's aircraft for the trial, which will launch some time in the coming months. It will see Flirtey's drones carry pizzas from a select Domino's store in New Zealand and lower them down to customer's homes by way of a tether, using some form of special pizza packaging to preserve the temperature and taste.

The companies carried out a demonstration of the pizza delivery-service today in Auckland with New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority and Minister of Transport Services in attendance. According to Flirtey and Domino's, this exercise is the final hurdle before they gain regulatory approval to expand the flights to customer homes later in the year.

This will see Flirtery's drones form part of Domino's existing fleet of delivery vehicles, which includes scooters, cars, e-bikes and its roving robotic delivery unit. The drones will fly autonomously to an altitude of 60 m (200 ft) and, in the initial phases of the trial, carry pizzas to customers within 1.5 km (0.93 mi) of select stores at speeds of 30 km/h (18 mph). As regulations allow for it, Domino's plans to increase this radius to 10 km (6.2 mi).

New Zealand has long tried to position itself as a hotbed for drone technology, and has been ahead of the curve when it comes to integrating drones into the national airspace.

Flirtey has been in dialogue with New Zealand's aviation authority since then in its push to get a drone delivery service off the ground, but its efforts aren't exclusive to the island nation in the south-west Pacific. It recently teamed up with 7-Eleven in the US to carry out the first drone delivery to a customer's home (yes it included Slurpees).

Prior to that, it carried out the US' first federally approved delivery of medical supplies and the first ship-to-shore delivery to illustrate how drones could change the game when it comes to disaster relief. The company has also set up shop with an office at the University of Nevada, looking to develop its technology at one of just six federally approved drone testing sites in the US.

With new laws around commercial drone flight in the US coming into play, businesses can essentially use drones for profit. It is unclear how drone delivery service providers like Flirtey can make use of these new rules however, as they still require the drones to be flown within the line of sight and make it illegal to operate more than one at a time, caveats that aren't really accommodating for those pushing for autonomous deliveries. Still, things are starting to move along.

Source: Domino's, New Atlas

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Why robotics kits should be a part of the school bag!

School bags (or Backpacks, depending on which part of the world you live) are the ubiquitous students’ commodity that are predominantly associated with school goers. These articles of nylon and fabric material are always conceived as a symbol of pride in a society. This connection is somewhat obvious considering the fact that more students who visit schools are a sign of a healthy nation, one that gives value to its children’s education.

However, of late, the humble school bag is no longer viewed with such a pleasant outlook. It is viewed as a symbol of proverbial “burden” that young school students are harried with. With increasingly long school hours and excruciatingly tougher subjects, students today can be metaphorically linked to “beasts of burden” who are banished to carry increasing loads of concepts. What makes the burden unbearable is the fact that students like oxen are not aware of the true value of toil they indulge themselves. Just like the oxen who are not aware of the real fruits of labour which end up in bountiful harvests, students indulge in endless chores of rigorous learning for which they are quite unaware of the benefits.

Education, in particularly STEM, is a valuable element of students’ curriculum. It helps students actually realize their dreams of becoming personnel of the engineering, medicine and science stream. However, a majority of students who learn these concepts do not understand the true potential of their subjects. Subjects of the science and math stream which students come across in their formative years are just looked at as obstacles littered along the path to realizing true as opposed to the fact that these are important areas of study which would improve the perception and scientific acumen of students. 

A rather pitiable truth is the fact that this mindset, which is usually viewed at as a product of generation gap, still persists largely through the Indian society with parents and teachers increasingly encouraging students to get done with the school subjects to pursue dreams of their own. What would’ve been desirable is if these parents and teachers encouraged students to look at these subjects as tools of knowledge that could improve their perspectives it would provide students with the right track to pursue and not view their courses with animosity. 

What role do robotics kits play in such an environment?

Robotics as a multidisciplinary field is at the forefront of core technologies. By including concepts from mechanics, electronics, computer science etc. in its pre-requisties, the field of robotics represents the true synergy between subjects which students learn as a part of their STEM curriculums at schools. With such significance attached to the subject, it is imperative that it is introduced in the classroom environment.

The use of robotics in education can be considered as two-tined.

a) The application of robotics in a classroom environment, where teachers who are conducive to the advantages of using robots, creatively fit usage of robots or robotic kits into the existing curriculum. 

b) The usage of robots or robotic kits in school robotics clubs, where dedicated instructors supervise interested students in their free time.

This would be made possible if the school bag was reshuffled to accommodate a purpose robotics kit into the school bag. Such a usage would actively make education entertaining and less of a burden for the young minds and would make lugging around bags easier and purposeful for the innovators of tomorrow.

We at Kidobotikz believe that STEM education should be stemmed in the minds of young ones as a fun experience rather than one that they view as burden. Our purpose designed kits which can slide into school bags with ease can make learning a joyous experience.

Happy Roboting ! !

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Parrot unveils a gliding Disco drone with VR Headset and 1st Person view.

Parrot has never been afraid to push the boundaries when it comes to drone design, with rovers that jump through the air and miniature quadcopters that scale walls. The Disco revealed at CES earlier this year is yet another departure from the typical consumer drone form, and Parrot has just revealed a few new details about how the speedy fixed-wing glider will work, along with details on pricing and availability.

With their incredible agility and maneuverable cameras, quadcopters have ruled the consumer space with regard to unmanned aerial vehicles. But fixed-wing versions have their place too, with these types of gliders taking to the skies in the name of crop monitoring, wildlife conservation, deliveries and surveillance.

With its Disco drone, Parrot is trying to bring the strengths of this design to those who simply like flying for fun. This makes for an ultralight, 725 g (1.6 lb) drone crafted from expanded polypropylene that can fly for 45 minutes at time, compared to the 20 to 25 minutes most top-flight consumer drones will run for. There's also the matter of speed, with the Disco able to fizz along at 50 mph (80 km/h), while most quads, including Parrot's own Bepop 2, top out at around 37 mph (60 km/h).

A few impressive specs here and there is all well and good, but what might really make the Disco unique is the experience of flying the thing. The first-person view (FPV) capability, where a camera built into the nose live streams the drone's view back to a set of virtual reality goggles, has been a major factor in the explosive growth of drone racing, and Parrot will be hoping this immersive sensation can have a similar effect here, hooking hobbyists by making them feel like they are right there in the cockpit.

Alongside the Disco drone, Parrot is launching a set of FPV goggles called Cockpitglasses that work in a similar way to the Samsung Gear VR headset. Pilots slide their iOS or Android smartphone into the headset which hooks up with the drone over Wi-Fi and displays live vision from its full-HD, 14-megapixel camera with radar and flight data laid over the top.

There is also an onboard computing unit called C.H.U.C.K (Control Hub & Universal Computer Kit), which handles the Disco's autopilot capabilities. This allows users to simply toss the drone into the air like a frisbee for take-off, which sees it ascend to an altitude of 164 ft (50 m) and circle automatically until the pilot takes the joysticks. When it's time to come down, the automatic landing feature brings Disco down below an altitude of 19 ft (5.7 m) and slows it down to land smoothly in a straight line.

The drone is controlled with the newly announced Skycontroller 2, the second generation of Parrot's remote control for drones. This allows Disco to roam up to 1.2 mi (1.93 km) away and connects with the dedicated FreeFlight Pro smartphone app to enable the FPV streaming, along with functions like geofencing, limiting altitude and recording video onto the drone's 32 GB onboard memory.

The latest promo video gives an extensive peek into the user experience of this drone.

Source: Parrot, New Atlas

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Robotics education as a tangential learning platform

credits: Extra Credits

For those of you who have read the title, most of you are already in discomfiture and are wondering why does the word “Tangential” figure in a write up related to learning. Well, for starters, Tangential learning is a process by which people indulge in self-education if a topic is exposed to them in a context that they already seem to enjoy. Some valid instances could involve examples, where we could watch a movie praising classical music and then be motivated to learn more about the history of that artform. Scientists have observed this method of learning as an effective means of education with high retention rates.

This form of tangential learning is rather involuntary and represents innate curiosity in us learners. Not just movies, even other forms of activity such as watching documentary, visiting art galleries and playing video games could draw us to the context and make us better learners in that particular context. While this is an interesting means for learning, there is no such contemporary in mainstream education. Mainstream education does not provide with enough such avenues where kids can take a break from the rigorous routine and explore newer concepts in their area of choice. This means that the curiosity and love for learning is curbed in its buds and students are forced to stick to the trodden path in learning. 

A rudimentary exploration of existing processes reveals that tangential learning from mainstream education hasn’t existed and a major reason for the same could be the fact that mainstream education system does not incentivize such activities undertaken by children. This is something that has an adverse impact on student curiosity levels, and in some cases happiness levels too.

Mainstream education which is bogged down by its desire to impart parity in education fails to provide with scope or time for students to explore their areas of interest. Even if there exist courseware for students to pursue and explore within the outreach of their subjects, students are actively discouraged from leaving the existing track. This means that budding engineers and scientists cannot specialize in their areas of interests such as electronics or astronomy or roboting in their school lives and have to wait for the completion of their undergrad and postgrad studies before they can move on to pursue their passions.

We at Kidobotikz are not partial to this bias towards learning. We believe that tangential learning should never be inhibited whatever be the age of the candidate. He or she deserves to explore his/her area of interest even if he is not institutionally qualified to pursue high technology concepts. Our kits have been designed to give students a taste of high technology concepts in engineering and robotics. Students can pursue several interesting concepts such as electronics, mechanics, programming while they are still in their schooling years. Our platform has been designed to democratize such core technologies to the comprehensible level of school students. This we believe is our bit towards tangential learning. 

Happy roboting ! ! 

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