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Photo: M. Moorthy

Automation Face of the future

This might sound as a far-fetched analogy picked up from Isaac Asimov’s science fiction novels. But that’s precisely what the robots designed by a group of students here do all the time.

Robots might not take over the world but they could do chores for us if we tweak them accordingly, says Hitesh Meghani, one among the four robot-makers at National Institute of Technology, Tiruchi.

Mayur Agarwal, Prashant Agarwal and Krishnanand Gupta joined him two years ago to give the machines a human touch.

Their robots, though with a look far from fictional machines, are a dexterous lot with a great degree of accuracy.

Their first digital pet, which won them prize at tech fest of Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, could lift balls of different colours and drop them in holes painted with similar colour shades.

Unlike remote-controlled toy cars where one needs to direct them to fetch the objects, this robot is all automated.

With help from Matlab, a high-level computer language, and image processing, the students programmed a preset pointer.

It gives just enough context and guidance for the robot to sense between colours on the balls and holes. With a colour sensor fitted on its top, the robot seldom makes a mistake. A web camera attached to the circuits makes it a fail-safe mechanism by tracing current orientation.

If all we know is robots are face of the future that may pay our bills and clean up the homes, there is more to these metal-and-wire figurines. They can even cut down on the work of cops by digital policing.

The team’s second creation could do that. The bot is closer to the creators’ heart, for, it fetched them the top honours in tech fest of Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.

It wheels its way through the black-and-white check board chasing a look-alike rover. The task for the digital cop, as in any science fiction flicks, is complicated. It had to pass only through the white checks, making sure it doesn’t land on the black ones. The smartly programmed cop makes use of visual cues and catches the thief in no time. A bright green light emitting diode sensor, studded on the cop’s head, burns with glee at the completion of the operation.

The third little hunk of metal, having hogged the limelight at Kurukshetra tech fest of Anna University, demands attention for its astonishing accuracy.

The unmanned car zooms along the thin black line, without tramping on the white space.

The jagged path has sharp curves, loops and zig-zag patterns just enough to puzzle the electronic brains.

But the android whizzes past the hurdles to reach the destination. The microprocessor-embedded machine wheels along with assistance from LED sensors.

Though the rookies are not consumer pieces just yet, they are primed to compete in technical market.

“We got our hands into robotics two years ago. Initially, it was just to make some quick bucks,” recalls Hitesh.

But there is no turning back for the group after winning a string of events. It was then they decided to pass on their two-year-long expertise built from scratch to their contemporaries by hosting a robotics workshop for city engineering colleges.

The three-day workshop with rigorous technical sessions taught the aspirant engineers key concepts of robotics. Algorithms, working of sensors, image processing basics, Matlab programming were tagged along with a robotic kit filled with micro-controller, motor chassis, handbook and DVD of necessary software and of course, battery to bring the rovers live.

Helping the 65 teams recreating their brainchildren thrilled the boys.

“Most of the participants were able to run the robots successfully. We mentored them till they got acclimatised with the basics. Then, their creativity ruled,” Hitesh says.

With the major wins at IITs, NITs and Anna University to egg them on, the four final-year students dare to dream bigger.

“We have always wanted to create sociable, humanoid bots that walk, talk and scheme out daily chores. The ones we have created move on wheels,” he says, gazing at the three fully cast metal figures tethered to a computer.

But unfortunately enough, none the national robotics events tests the students’ skill on the art of making robots to act human and insist mainly on programming skills.

“Students are competitive. Host colleges float the tutorials on net and participants religiously follow it to run a robot. The events must test us on application-oriented robots rather than entertainment ones,” he says.

Do the occasional technical snarl-ups in the robots put off the builders?

“There are times when we get slightly edgy due to major logjam in the machines during competitions. But making bots compete with one another is addictive.”

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