Students create remote-controlled food supply robot
KOCHI: Anto George, Joseph Sony and John Sony like to keep themselves busy. So, when their schools closed down due to Covid-19 pandemic, the trio decided to do something to contribute to the ‘Break the Chain’ campaign of the state government. That was how they developed the remote-controlled food supply robot. “While ‘Break the Chain’ campaign advocates social distancing, our innovation tries to help people achieve that. It can be used to transport supplies from local shops to homes or between neighbouring houses,” says Anto, a class 10 student of St Sebastian’s Public School, Udayamperoor.
The prototype of the robot was developed on a budget of `18,000 and it took them four days. The supply robot can travel up to 1km on wireless mode. It is powered by battery used in computer UPS and can run for four hours if fully charged. The robot is controlled using an RC controller remote, which can be connected to mobile phones to track its route.
A camera attached on the robot transmits images to the remote. The body of the robot has been made using aluminium panels. There are four motors attached to the wheels which have been innovatively designed using household mats to ensure that it can run through muddy terrains. The trio developed the model and uploaded a video on their YouTube channel, DTP Tech, which has around 6,000 subscribers. “My brother Joffil George financed the project. Since then we have moved on to our next project which is a treehouse. The video of the treehouse project will be uploaded on our channel soon,” says Joseph, a class 10 student of Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Eroor.
Their YouTube channel sees a mix of science projects, vlogs, unboxing videos and trick shot videos.
“We started the channel two years ago to display our trick shot skills, but later on moved to technology-related projects. We work on various projects during the weekend. During last Christmas, we had designed a 12-foot pixel- LED Christmas tree. There s a lot of support from our families and schools while doing these projects. We would like to develop our robot prototype into a fully working model,” says Anto. The youngest of the bunch from Udayamperoor, is John, a fifth standard student.