It was raining robots at the Bala Vidya Mandir School in Adyar, with students and engineers getting together to present a host of gadgets—from robots that can imitate animals to little cars that can run on water!
The technology meet was put together by the students as part of the MyndWorks Programme, an after-school programme by educational solutions firm Robotix and Meritus.
Under the annual programme, students are given training in creative computer games that are designed to enhance skills like logical thinking, reasoning, problem solving, etc. The other section of the programme looks at providing students with hands-on training in robots and other technological innovations using kits and with the help of engineers of the company.
“Robotics is all about the future. There are a whole lot of innovations that are currently going across the world. But in India we are oblivious to most of it. Introducing children to this at an early stage will help trigger their imagination and interest in this area,” said A S Ramana Prasad, chairman of Robotix Learning Private Limited and Meritus Smart Learning Solutions, and new technology engineer at INTEL, California.
As of now, the annual programme costs `15,000 per student per year for a period of 30 weeks. Students from class 4-7 are the target group.
Speaking about expansion plans at a press conference on Thursday, Ramana Prasad said that in the phase one of its expansion, the company will move to play schools in Chennai. “In the next stage, it will expand to 30 schools across the State covering 7,200 students by 2015. Also, in 2014, we will move to Dubai and in 2015 to Abu Dhabi,” he added.