Robo Club, which trains children and engineering students in robotics, has acquired a five-foot humanoid robot made with TETRIX building systems and runs on LabVIEW software for robotics education.
Robo Club marketing head Shree Nivas claimed that their institution was the first to purchase the robot named Mr. Robot in the country. The robot can move forward, backward and even twirl around on the spot.
Students can use LabVIEW software that is used for Lego Mindstroms to programme Mr. Robot to do specific sequences and dances. Built from Tetrix and Lego components, the robot is powered by two 12 volt, 3000 milli Ampere NiMH (nickel – metal hydride) batteries.
Interest in robotics has increased in the country after the release of Rajinikanth’s “Robo” movie. Robo Club is one of the institutions that benefited from the sudden increase in interest on robots amongst primary schoolchildren.
The institute trains children to participate in robotic Olympiads, both national and international.
The purchase of the humanoid at a relatively high cost of US$ 6,999 is also part of the efforts to sustain the interest of the children in Robotics, Mr. Shree Nivas said.
Mr. Robot comes with NXT Brick, Logitech USB game controller, a USB Bluetooth dongle and weights 37.5 pounds. The robot has LED eyes that light up. It is controlled by Bluetooth during the demonstration and can be programmed to do specific tasks.
