Media Release
Udupi, Apr 4: Dr A P J Abdul Kalam was in for a surprise welcome when he visited Shri Madhwa Vadiraja Institute of Technology and Management (SMVITM), here in the city on Wednesday April 2.
‘The Flying Robodrones,’ a group of young and enthusiastic students gave a technical touch to the traditional welcome at the Institute. Dr Kalam was received by ‘Wall-E,’ a telepresence robot; he was very curious and questioned about its functioning.
People were entertained when the students started operating the robot.
Kalam began interacting with the robot and made gave it different commands like, a 360 degree rotation and other navigations. When the robot started working as per the commands, he wanted to meet the team behind its successful operation. He was fascinated with the robot; congratulated and appreciated the efforts put to design and build it.
He did mention about his unique welcome and interaction with the robot when he addressed the gathering at SMVITM.
The specially designed robot allows a person to feel, give or have an effect of a presence at a place other than his actual location. The user can also navigate the robot from any corner of the world.
“The robot promises to be a low cost one making it economically attractive. The goal is to give a new mode of learning and communication which hopefully will be implemented in the field of technical education,” said team leader Vignesh Pai.
The student team comprised of Vignesh Pai, Nikhil Acharya, Rao Prabhakar, Bilal Asadi, Pritam Shetty, Rayan Christ D’souza and others.