The Hindu 15.06.2013
Indian robot vanquishes competition, stands second at international competition
Fascination for robots has won the World Robo Masters Cup 2013 for the three students of Edison G. Agoram Memorial School situated at Manalur near Chidambaram in Cuddalore district.
In the senior-level competition on the topic ‘Robot used in military’, held at Jurong in Singapore on June 6 and 7, K. Ramsudhan, a Class X student, and Eswar K. Manasijan and S. Abhinandan, Class IX students of the school, stood second at the world level and first at the Indian level.
In all, about 200 students from five countries competed in this category, according to C. Shammi Ratna, a representative of the school management.
As the induction of the sophisticated weaponry in the modern warfare has reached a phenomenal level, the defence personnel have been exposed to grave dangers.
Therefore, to mitigate the risk factors of the personnel on the battlefront, unmanned crafts and devices are being put to use. For instance, drones have established their utility in targeting the terrorists holed up in treacherous territories
Now it is the turn of robots to make a foray into the battlefield for multifarious activities such as surveillance, reconnaissance, retaliation and rescue operations.
Such a trend has caught the fancy of the trio who slogged for a couple of months — foregoing their vacation — in the school, to develop the robot aptly named as ‘Vanquisher’.
According to Ramsudhan, the remote-controlled robot could detect the mines or any improvised explosive devices hidden in the soil and clears the way for advancement of platoons into the enemy territory, for launching an attack.
Manasijan and Abhinandan said that in the competition the Vanquisher launched grenades (in the form of lighted camphor that would shoot from the device to hit the inflammable objects) that zeroed in on the targets, with accuracy.
The students said that what had impressed the event organisers was the functional ability of the robot, which could successfully execute assigned tasks, and their spirited presentation.
Ms. Ratna said that the Vanquisher was assembled in the robotic wing of the school. Last year, the school developed a robot that could be of use in the field of medicine.
School desires association
Ms. Ratna further said that given a chance the school would be happy to be associated with any of the defence projects.
She said that the prize money would be utilized to procure advanced robotic prototypes.
The prize-winning students said that their scientific quest would guide their academic career. Besides Ms. Ratna, another management representative Geetha Agoram and Principal S. Kalyani congratulated the students for their achievements.
