July 18, 2024

As part of our robotics outreach program, we've begun a series of workshops to raise STEM awareness and education throughout India. Our second location was the Shri Gulab Rai Montessori Sr. Secondary School, located in the city of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, a few hours east of Delhi. Many of the students at this school showed a deep interest in the field of robotics, and many we spoke with hinted at aspirations in growing up to be computer, electrical, or mechanical engineers. Going into the workshop, we knew that the students would be excited to participate.

The workshop consisted of an introduction to basic robotics fundamentals, before we engaged the students in an interactive lesson. We demonstrated the uses of code in both robots and circuits, and allowed students to experiment with coding for themselves to create unique approaches to issues.

Students were able to witness the reconfiguration and programmability of robots, charting a course in a feed-forward demonstration, and react to the world around it through touch and color sensors; feedback. We then presented a simple LED-based Arduino circuit, and students jumped on the chance to participate in coding themselves, creating unique patterns and blink speeds.

At the end of the lesson, students were given an opportunity to build their own end effector. Through a step-by-step process, mathematic concepts were introduced in the context of robotics, and students were able to build their own experiment, sparking possible continuations down the line.

During a conversation with the school's principal, we learned that the Indian education system, while rigorous and advanced, tends to encourage students to simply study from textbooks and focus on tests. The principal emphasized that school should be a place for connections, experiments, and hands-on learning. From sitting in on our session, he had ideas to implement coding and competitive robotics challenges in the school down the road. 

In all, our second workshop in India was a success, and our team had a lot of fun working with the country's prospective STEM pioneers.