By Vaishnavi Srinivasan | Executive Director
Nivetha, from Chennai Shelter Home, is one bright girl who smartly utilised an opportunity presented to her through Bhumi’s Robotics programme. The programme involves practical robotics training for children from classes VII to X, in which the children are divided into teams and asked to suggest an idea to build a simple robot.
Nivetha, along with her team of two other girls, came up with an idea of ‘Vanakam Robot’, a simple automated robot for greeting people (‘Vanakam’ in Tamil means ‘welcome’). The team successfully built a working model and displayed it at Bhumi’s Ignite Fest, where her team also received colossal opportunities for further avenues. Before discovering the procession of success and happiness that Nivetha and her team got pulled into, let us swiftly wade through her life and experience in Bhumi Ignite’s Robotics programme, Yantra.
A structured curriculum has been developed by an expert panel of Bhumi and Belgium-based NGO Dwengo, which has an equal mixture of theory and application. Nivetha's adequate knowledge helped her pick up the concepts of electronics from the Robotics sessions quickly. Her interest level throughout the academic term was impressive. She always tried to answer questions. After coming up with the concept of building a robot that welcomes people, her team worked on it for several weeks and came up with a perfect model using a micro-controller, an ultrasonic sensor, a servomotor, and a digital display.
The team covered the skeleton of the robot with colourful attire made from waste cardboard. Nivetha understood the technology, made a practical application of the knowledge, and smartly put some art into it. One can only admire such ingenuity – simple yet beautiful.
At Bhumi’s Robo-Fest, various teams demonstrated their robots and competed with teams from other schools. Nivetha knew not only technology and art, but also some marketing. She placed the ‘Vanakam Robot’ at the entrance to greet visitors, catching the attention of everyone entering the show. Their robot got significant media coverage too. Many special guests and regional celebrities, like actor Mime Gopi and RJs Senthil and Vijay from Radio Mirchi (Chennai), visited the exhibition. The guests’ recognition and admiration left Nivetha jumping in joy.
Bhumi volunteers encouraged and assisted the team in exhibiting the robot at an expo conducted in MIT, Chennai. Nivetha’s interest, efforts, and skills impressed many dignitaries at the expo. She and her team participated in MIT’s Carte Blanche’s Industrial Robot expo, receiving training from various reputed organisations.
Nivetha now looks forward to the future eagerly, and is keen to learn more. Her bond with the volunteers was evident when she requested them to come every day to teach her more concepts. Bhumi thanks the volunteers for their willful strenuous effort to nurture prodigies like Nivetha.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
