"I had seen a Hindi movie on robots and I would think that whenever I get a chance to make robots, I would directly accept it,” says Anjali, a 12-year old girl from Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Holkar School, a government-run school in Pune. When she finally did get that chance, however, she couldn’t get herself to believe it was true. “I told my sister – please pinch me – because I thought I was seeing a dream,” she laughs.

Phalguni has an equally interesting story. Managing with one device between her brother and herself, she has learnt the basics of robotics through online classes during the pandemic. “I love creating robots,” she says. The 13-year-old Phalguni goes to class 7 in the same school as Anjali.

The two girls had joined me virtually from Pune for a video call. Online classes for all siblings in their family meant that mobile data was limited, as was the space in the modest households. But neither poor network nor surprise appearances from family members could dampen the spirit of these girls who spoke to me about their love for robotics with a glint in their eyes. Both these girls are a part of a program by Robotex India, an NGO that trains underprivileged children in robotics.

Anjali and Phalguni in conversation with Samiksha Mehra of INDIAai

A bot for spreading Covid awareness

Anjali, the granddaughter of an auto-rickshaw driver, says that her family was elated at her getting the opportunity of engaging with Robotex India. “I love to play with robots,” she says. She’s the first member of her family to have ever been exposed to emerging technologies. As she chats with me, sitting on the floor of her room with gas cylinders visible in the background, she explains that her father works in the gas industry.

When the time came to pick a concept for her robot, she was clear that she wanted to work on something that would benefit the country. “I was only thinking which robot to make which could help my country. It took me 4-5 days to think. I would see that my neighbours are not following Covid rules. That’s how I decided to make a robot that would give instructions to wear a mask,” says Anjali.

Anjali’s little bot is provided by Robotex India, but she has given it a beautiful facelift with a hand-painted cardboard body. It’s in the shape of a cart with a mobile camera mounted on top to detect whether people are wearing a mask.

To demonstrate her model to me, she has printed pictures of people with and without a mask. The facial recognition algorithm correctly identifies the pictures, thanking those with the mask and gently reminding the others to wear one. At the end of the demo, Anjali looks satisfied while I am proud of the little girl’s confidence and clarity.

A bot for keeping India clean

“I was very happy to participate in Robotex and all my family members supported me. I love creating robots,” says Phalguni, the daughter of a guest house Manager. 

The inspiration for her bot came from her desire to see clean parks in the vicinity. “I’ve seen that people will see a dustbin in the parks but still not throw the garbage in it. My robot instructs people to not throw garbage in the parks. This way, the parks also look clean and nice,” says Phalguni.

Phalguni has used Scratch programming for coding the robot. As and when she commands from the mobile phone, her bot goes around a handpainted modular park, announcing “‘Don’t throw garbage here. Please throw the garbage in the dustbin and keep the park clean.”

What more does she know about robotics, I ask, and she replies, “They create big robots to help people. First, I didn’t know how they created them – I would only see it on TV. But when the school gave me this opportunity and introduced me to Robotex, I was very interested.” Her innocence and belief in technology are all that the naysayers need to see to reinstate their faith in the goodness of technology.

Small joys, big dreams

If tech is only a tool in the hands of the creator, I am assured of the future of tech in India with these girls learning how to leverage it for the welfare of the country.

About her future dreams, Anjali says, “I have so many dreams but my main dream is to become an engineer. I want to join Robotex India as a teacher and help them to spread this technology because I love to help people so I will be glad if I get a chance to teach.”

Phalguni also has big plans for her future self. “First, my dream was to be an IPS officer as it was my father's dream. But now I also want to be a part of Robotex India. I want to help my India to create new robots that are useful,” she says.

Students of Robotex India working on their projects

Read more about Robotex India here

Image from Robotex India