Chennai  :

You don’t need to wait for the next installment of Transformers to go crazy over robots. Just head over to Elliot’s Beach this Sunday. Attempting to set a world record, 101 robots will be assembled from scratch by school-goers from the city in, get this, one hour!

Planned to be driven across the beach, these creations have taken over a year of after-school hours and weekends to bring to life, say the organisers at Kidobotikz, a robotics training institute for youngsters.

And each has been designed with a unique purpose by its young maker, think everything from surveillance to race bots, that will be hitting the sand this weekend. “The kids spent the last couple of months actually modifying their robots to make sure they were all-terrain friendly once we decided that the venue for the event was going to be the beach,” says a proud Sneha Priya, one of the founders of Kidobotikz.

“That means they run on sand, gravel, marble, cement and a tar road,” she beams. Sneha and friend S Pranavan, who both studied robotics at Anna University set up this institute at KK Nagar three years ago, when they thought ‘’why not take this knowledge to kids at the school level itself?’ And evidently mission accomplished despite their course being open to students aged 12 to 17, the youngest robot maker to be showcasing is ‘wireless’ bot on the beach will be seven!

While seven-year-old Raghu Ram is just getting started, 16-year-old Chitresh Tiwari has gone so far as to be part of the only group of school students to win a competition at IIT! He recalls, “I remember it all started because I would enjoy opening the gadgets to see how they worked, like the remote controlled car my parents bought for me when I was 11.”

If you think this may be a distraction to academics, Sneha says that robotics classes actually do quite the opposite. “Robotics is a mix of mechanics, electronics, programming and algorithms. So starting early helps school students understand what they are good at and what to concentrate later,” she explains.

A team from ASSIST World Records Research Foundation (AWRRF) will be present to witness the feat and declare the world record. The event at Elliot’s Beach is expected to kick off at 6 am and go on till 8 am. (To know more, contact Kidobotikz at 90031 45154)

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express/ Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / July 02nd, 2016