Have you opted to send your child to a robotics camp this summer? You are one of the many who have put their faith in ‘STEM education’ — a phrase that may hold the key to the future of Indian industry. Referring to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM is a concept that gained currency in the United States, and has slowly been adopted by other nations with the aim of increasing competitiveness in scientific development.
With global trends suggesting that those with competence in STEM will have the best jobs, there’s been a move to make it a part of the school curriculum worldwide. Robotics, which deals with the design, construction, operation and application of robots, is one of the most popular STEM education branches.
“But we always get parents and children expecting to design humanoid figures like ‘Enthiran’ or ‘Iron-Man’,” says S Alex, whose Brainstorm STEM Academy in Ponnagar, Tiruchi, has been training students from the age of 5 to 21 in robotics for the past one and a half years. “Robotics is not just about creating the superheroes we see on screen.
It is used in other fields like medicine, automobile design, logistics, space research and so on,” he adds.
Brainstorm STEM Academy, a franchisee of the Pune-based institution, teaches robotics through component kits. Students are taught the basic concepts before they are given deadlines to finish the projects.
Besides robotics camps for children (one is due to be held at the Anna Science Centre-Planetarium on May 16), Brainstorm also executes degree-level prototype projects for engineering college students, and undertakes small industrial jobs.
Analytical study
A quad-pedal (four-legged) robot that does the Lungi Dance is one of the many unusual creations of robotics enthusiast and former lecturer S Shriram, whose month-old Trichy Robotics Academy at Srirangam is a new entrant into STEM education.
“Our courses are not just about getting children to construct a robot, but also making them learn and absorb scientific information through discussion and analysis,” says Shriram.
His classes rely on do-it-yourself (DIY) kits promoted by Lego Robotics (with an online syllabus supported by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Open Courseware). Students are asked to complete tasks in teams of four. “Discussing issues related to the assignment helps children realise that there are many ways to solve a problem,” says Shriram.
A watering system based on the internet of things (IoT), a field-exploring robot controlled through a mobile phone and a glass-cleaning robot are among the projects showcased at the academy’s YouTube channel.
Helping hand
Robotics and Machine Intelligence (RMI) is a club at the National Institute of Technology-Tiruchi (NITT) that brings together its engineering students from the second, third and fourth years to collaborate on various projects. Founded in 2005, the club has created many prototypes.
“We use components that are locally available, or buy them online. Our aim is to work on at least 10 projects in a year, in phases or as complete concepts,” says RMI president Naveed Mohamed, a third-year student of Instrumentation and Control Engineering.
Among the projects that the students have created recently are ASCON, a device that converts American sign language gestures to speech; EXOS, a hand exoskeleton which amplifies normal hand actions (useful for stroke rehabilitation), and Soccer Robots, mobile omni-directional machines that are equipped to play the game.
“The future is moving towards automation and intelligent machines. It is important for us as engineering students to be prepared for this,” says Naveed.
Need for creativity
How does the push on STEM education compute in a year when nearly 22 private engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu are reported to have applied to the All India Council for Technical Education for permission to close down?
“There is no unique course in India for robotics, or specialist teachers for the subject because it is an inter-disciplinary field,” says V Sankaranarayanan, associate professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, NITT.
Interest is picking up slowly in India, though the expertise is scattered and funding is hard to come by. “Robotics is a fascinating field for youngsters because they can see the direct application of science. But there’s a huge gap between this sort of showmanship and the research level,” says Dr Sankaranarayan. The Control System Research Lab (CSRL) of the institution’s EEE department and coordinated by Dr Sankaranarayanan, has made robotics a part of its study areas. It is very important for robots to be “creative”, in order to be developed into successful products, says the academic. “Everyone is thrilled by robotics but not the physics behind it, despite it being widely used in biomedical applications, defence and assistive technology,” he says.
Among the outstanding projects of the CSRL is the visual tracking and landing of a quadrotor helicopter (an unmanned flying device that is lifted and propelled by four rotors), on a moving platform. “This concept, if put into production, can have a use in high-end defence systems,” says Dr Sankaranarayan.
With the lack of dedicated robotics courses in higher education in India, most promising students eventually migrate to Western countries for further research. “This brain drain is a reality of our education system,” says Dr Sankaranarayan. “Teachers should start electives in colleges that deal with the fundamentals of robotics. There is no problem in funding, but quality research papers on robotics are tough to get in India. This is why I ask my old students to fund us with robots and technical assistance rather than money.”
