Geek Speak: Mrithun Chockalingam

It’s Saraswati pooja day and most of them young students must be happy! It’s the only mandated day of the year when students are requested to NOT touch their books! And it is something of a calm before the storm because most of these students will be burning their midnight oil the very next day, Vijayadasami, in time for schools that reopen. 

But, roboting requires no books. So, there’s no embargo for robotics on Saraswathi Pooja day. This means most of the Kidobotikzians are here doing the same regular roboting stuff that they are used to doing. Meanwhile, we pick up from from where we left yesterday and cover students who have presented their Kolu-themed projects here at Kidobotikz. With us today is someone who has truly taken the art of Athithi Satkar, or Guest Hospitality, to a new level. He’s come up with an innovative way of serving Kumkum and Turmeric to the guests who visit his home for Navaratri. Meet Mrithun Chockalingam our Geek for the day. 

Hi Mrithun! Can you tell us the inspiration behind your project?

For every kolu, neighbours and relatives visit our home. When they leave, it is customary for my mother to give them Kumkum and turmeric placed near the deity. I wanted to make it easy so that as and when the guests offered their prayers to the Idols they got offered the holy powders automatically. That was the inspiration behind this project.

To make it work, I placed the idol of Lord Ganesh in the middle and erected a small motor mounted umbrella behind him. If you notice the front, the two small cups of kumkum and turmeric are placed on small plates. These are actually 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.

 Inspiring! Must be interesting learning to know how to do all these! 

Yes, all of these are quite interesting to make work. Thanks to my curiosity and basic knowledge of robotics, I was able to do this. Not just my parents, all the guests who visited my home were also equally impressed. 

So, how’s your roboting experience at Kidobotikz and How did you actually join Kidobotikz 

Thanks to Kidobotikz, I now know that Robotics is not as complex as portrayed. I am now in the Foundation level and it is exciting to know that from here onwards, I get to build cool robots like Sumo Robots and Hexapods.

What is your favourite Robot?

My favourite robots are Humanoids. In particular, I have a fascination for the ASIMO series of robots built by Honda.

What are your future ambitions? Where do you see yourself in the future now that you are a budding roboticist?

I wanna be an Automobile designer when I grow up. I have a fascination for Cars and their designs. So, when I grow up that’s where I see myself. Also, now that I am into the field of robotics, I wanna explore the possibilities of Autonomous cars and cars that can be controlled with mobile phones. 

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Panasonic uses human touch to transfer data

Panasonic suggests that because the data is traveling through the body and not through the air, secure transmission is assured

In an age when digital information can fly around the connected networks of the world in the blink of an eye, it may seem a little old timey to consider delivering messages by hand. But that's precisely what Panasonic is doing at CEATEC this week. The company is demonstrating a prototype communication system where data is transmitted from one person to another through touch.

There's very little information on the system available, but Panasonic says that the prototype uses electric field communication technology to move data from "thing-to-thing, human-to-human and human-to-thing." Data transfer and authentication occurs when the objects or people touch, with digital information stored in a source tag instantaneously moving to a receiver module – kind of like NFC tap to connect technology, but with people in the equation as well as devices.

The LEDs under one staff member's skirt change to match the color of a bracelet worn by another when they shake hands

It has the potential to allow business types to exchange contact information with a handshake, mood lighting in a room to be changed to match or contrast with clothing when a lamp is touched or access to a building granted by placing a hand or object on a lock interface or door handle. And Panasonic suggests that because the data is traveling through the body and not over the air, secure transmission is assured.

The CEATEC demos are quite basic, but serve to show that the system works. There's no word at the moment on whether it will make it to enterprise or commercial availability, but the video below shows the Human Body Communication Device in action.

Source: Panasonic, New Atlas

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Geek Speak: Balaji

Ah, finally the weekend of Navaratri is here! It’s been a week full of roboting for most of these students! With the schools drawn to a close for the pooja holidays, students have been caught up in making robots in line with the festival season. With Kidobotikz also setting up a robotics Kolu on the premises, quite a lot of them pitched in and decided to display their Kolu-themed projects on the Kolu pedestal. Apart from this, an enthusiastic few have also taken to adorning the Kolu steps at their own homes with robots. A bunch of these young roboticists have taken videos of their Kolu-bots in action and uploaded them onto YouTube.

With us today is one of these fellas who has put his project on the Kolu stands at Kidobotikz. We enquire more about his project and his unique way of celebrating navaratri. Meet Balaji S. Rao, 3rd Grader at PSBB KK Nagar and a Kidobotikzian in the Foundation level. His project is a impressive looking figurine of Shri Ranganatha Swamy that is being fanned by a robot. Let’s learn more about him and his project . . . .

Hi Balaji! Can you tell us the reason behind your project?

Well, the tradition of Kolu is usually depicting scenes from mythology in the form of small dolls and figurines that can explain the story to guests and visitors during the Navaratri festival. I wanted to come up with something like that and some robotic effects to it. So, I made a slowly rotating fan that will look like someone is fanning the god. That is my project. For that I used a custom made fan blade and connected it to a BO motor via a long stick. 

Very good! Can you tell me how you made this project?

It was my own idea. But then, i wanted some help with motor and mounting the fan. So, I took some guidance from my brother who is also a student here at Kidobotikz and some assistance from my faculty. 

Can you tell us how goes your journey at Kidobotikz?

I am in the final stages of my Foundation level. I am hoping to finish the foundation level soon and commence the beginner level. Beginner level is where I get to work on robots with wheels and I am quite excited about the same. 

What are your favourite robots?

My favourite robots are Bipeds, the ones that are capable of walking on two legs. ASIMO is the best robot according to me. Another favourite would be amazon’s Kiva.

What’re your future plans? Where do you want to study? 

I want to become a robotics engineer. But I have not planned where I will study. I will probably ask my brother’s suggestion before doing that. 

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Meet NASA's robot destined to mine Martian soil

After all, Curiosity could get some much needed company!

Elon Musk and his private spaceflight company SpaceX recently outlined their plan to make space travel to Mars an affordable reality—just $500,000 for a one-way ticket to the Red Planet. To shuttle people to Mars (within the next decade if ambitious goals can be met) SpaceX is working on a carbon fiber fuel tank for a massive 400-foot-tall reusable rocket that only exists on the drawing board at this point.

But getting people to Mars is only half the battle. Making sure that they can survive, possibly for decades, is a whole different challenge. SpaceX might be the perfect organization to launch people to the Red Planet on massive rockets, but they are going to need some help from NASA to build a sustainable colony, which is its proposed goal.

Fortunately, NASA has been quietly working on ways to harvest Martian resources for some years—a necessary step to ultimately realize a self-sustained Martian colony. In April 2016, NASA published a scientific and technical information (STI) paper titled "Frontier In-Situ Resource Utilization for Enabling Sustained Human Presence on Mars." The paper outlines various ways that minerals, water, and atmospheric gasses could be harvested and used to manufacture plastics, rocket propellants, habitat-heating fuels, and even more complicated materials like fiberglass—all with materials that are already on Mars.

Which is where the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) comes in (see video above). The robot, which could be affixed to a rover or made into a rover itself, uses a rotating digging device to scoop up soils that could then be used for resource extraction. As NASA writes on its website, the RASSOR's "design incorporates net-zero reaction force, thus allowing it to load, haul, and dump space regolith under extremely low gravity conditions with high reliability."

The bot in the video above is actually the RASSOR 2.0, a scaled-up prototype of the original 2013 design. If we are going to build a self-sustained colony on Mars in the foreseeable future, the first step will be sending a host of robots like RASSOR to the Red Planet to get to work building our Martian home for us. As the NASA STI paper states regarding a Martian colony: "The crew is there to explore, and to colonize, not maintain and repair. Any time spent on 'living there' and 'housekeeping' should be minimized to an oversight role of robotic automated tasks."

Source: Popular Mechanics, Engadget

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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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Omnidrectional robot moves on an electrically charged ball to keep things simple

In a field where highly complex machinery often pulls the strings of highly complex maneuvers, a system that relies on a single ball to get around is certainly at the simpler end of the spectrum. Ten years ago we were introduced to such an idea, and now the team behind the original Ballbot is back with an even less complicated system. The upgraded machine is dubbed SIMbot and uses an experimental induction motor rather than a mechanical drive system for mobility, resulting in a robot with minimal moving parts.

The original Ballbot was invented by Professor Ralph Hollis, a robotics researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. The tall and slender robot was battery operated and omnidirectional, a set of characteristics its creator says lends itself particularly well to working with people in busy environments.

Because of its slender form and great agility, the robot can roll through doorways, in between furniture and can quite easily be moved out of the way when needed. A few years ago, a company spun out of Carnegie Mellon sought to make use of these capabilities with a version called mObi, eyeing hospitals and offices as its first port of call. The machine has also inspired a number of ballbots around world from roboticists in Japan, Switzerland and Spain.

But ballbots have relied on mechanical parts to move the ball at its base and keep the robot upright. Described as an "inverse mouse-ball drive," this sees motors actuate rollers that press against the ball, move it in the required direction and keep it from tipping over. These act on information gathered by internal sensors that track the robot's balance.

The SIMbot design could make ballbots cheaper and more accessible

"But the belts that drive the rollers wear out and need to be replaced," says Michael Shomin, a Ph.D. student in robotics at Carnegie Mellon. "And when the belts are replaced, the system needs to be recalibrated."

So the team explored more mechanically simplistic means of keeping the ballbot on the move. This led them to induction motors, which are motors that use magnetic fields to induce an electrical current and generate torque rather than relying on electrical connections. They are actually fairly commonplace and can be found in ceiling fans, industrial machinery and Elon Musk's Hyperloop plans.

But applying the technology to a spherical form is a challenge. While the team says progress has been made in this area before with spherical induction motors (SIMs) that can move back and forth a few degrees, their design, combined with advanced software and mathematics, allows for a spherical motor that can spin freely in any direction.

The SIM rests on a hollow iron ball inside a copper shell. Six laminated steel stators sit alongside the ball and produce traveling magnetic waves, guiding the ball in that direction. By altering the currents produced by the stators, the SIMbot can be steered in different directions.

Replacing the belt drives with electric currents cuts down on friction and makes the machine more efficient, but it may also make for more reliable ballbots that require less routine maintenance. And because of the shift away from mechanical components, it may also make them cheaper in the long run.

"This motor relies on a lot of electronics and software," says Hollis. "Electronics and software are getting cheaper. Mechanical systems are not getting cheaper, or at least not as fast as electronics and software are."

You can see the SIMbot in action in the video below.

Source: New Atlas,  Carnegie Mellon University

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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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