The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : It is going to rain robotics in schools

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 30, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

It is going to rain robotics in schools

Dennis Marcus Mathew

Club aims at `Robotics in Education' meets in local area schools IIIT's Robotics Club plans to encourgage students to construct simple circuits and eventually mini robots

HYDERABAD: From sauntering across like zombies in movies of yore to playing lead characters as in `Terminator,' all the while inspiring awe in children, robots have come a long way.

And now, they will soon be seen in schools in the city. The recently established Robotics Club at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Gachibowli is aiming at encouraging and supporting grassroots robotics activity in students.

This means that students can learn uses of robots and gradually, even experiment with various types of the super cool machines -- from sound-sensing robots to robots that may even play football! The IIIT initiative, aimed at helping children discover the science of circuits and by exploring the "nuts and bolts" of robots, how sensors are used in robots, will encourage children to tune their skills into building simple circuits and eventually, their own mini robots.

"Our goal is to spread robotics activity among local area schools by mentoring `Robotics in Education' workshops. This could be in the form of holding daylong or weekend-long workshops on hands-on robotics activities and mentoring robotics clubs, among others," says the in-charge of the club, Bipin Indurkhya.

Two levels planned

The club is presently planning two levels of activities. One is aimed at higher classes -- 9, 10, 11and 12 -- involving simple sensors, motors and electronic components. The other, aimed at children, will involve simple construction material like cardboard, syringes (as pneumatic actuators), plastic tubes, pins and so on.

"Workshops will benefit school teachers and children. All such workshops will be mentored by our Robotics Club students under supervision of a faculty member from the IIIT," says Prof. Indurkhya.

Cost of the material has to be borne by the host school/institution. Interested schools can contact Prof. Indurkhya over phone nos. 23001967 or 23001969 or at bipin@iiit.ac.in.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh