Twelve-year-old Sreejith Seshanarayana builds robots and plans to make it big in robotics.

He nimbly pieces up parts of a ‘mining robot’ prototype and sets it on motion, keenly watching his masterpiece execute commands with precision.

The class eight student of The PSBB Millennium School, Coimbatore, uses Lego software and components to build and execute robots.

“I use a base set to construct the robot, and with the help of a pre-programmed software I direct the robot do specific tasks,” the bespectacled youngster explained to The Covai Post.

Sreejith enters certain values to prompt the functioning of the sensor and uses the drag and drop programming to activate motors connected to parts of the robot that carry out the tasks.

“The ultrasonic sensors in the robot detect obstacles, assess the intensity of light, with a touch sensor helping them to withdraw after they hit an obstacle like a wall – all based on calculations effecting synchronized actions,” Sreejith said.

The prototypes Sreejith has built effectively showcase the potential to sort objects based on colour in factories, manage waste and many other applications.

“I built a robot that can pick plastic bags,” he said.

“The robots multitask,” he said. “I change the parts to vary their function.”

Big Bodhi Academy for robotics kindled Sreejith’s passion for robots.

“Such academies are taking classrooms to an exploratory level,” said C. Shanthakumar, director and founder of Big Bodhi Academy.

“They are platforms opening up a whole new world of science and math paving the way for understanding concepts in the most practical way,” Sreejith’s coach said.

Sreejith is one of the six contestants selected by IroboChakra in Coimbatore to represent India at Robofest the international world robotic championship organised by Lawrence Technological University in Michigan, US, last month.
“I got international exposure at the event, but did not have enough team-mates to execute the ‘Junior Bottle Sumo Robots’ challenge which requires us to construct and programme robot contestants who will have to either dislodge a bottle or either one of the contestants from the play field (the table on which the robots are run),” said Sreejith, who underwent special training for the event at IroboChakra, which is affiliated to Robofest.

Most of the young robotics experts selected to go to the US couldn’t make it as they didn’t have the means, according to Sreejith’s mother, Kasthuri.

“Sreejith ran out of time as he had to single-handedly construct and programme the robot against other international contestants who arrived as a team patronised by their governments “with much more quality Lego components and resources,” the mother said.

Sreejith who aspires for a career in mechatronics, loves playing mridangam and chess.

“I actually have not been studying much,” said Sreejith, who scores straight A’s in physics and chemistry.

He is now setting aside time for academic work while he continues to explore robotics on a higher plane with assistance from his younger brother Skanda, who is showing signs of a similar bent of mind.

Sreejith, who watches sci-fi movies to unwind, is always seen with the robots he created that his mother sometimes wishes he behaves like a typical schoolchild.