Kerala child ploughs own furrow with robots
KOCHI: Tired of seeing his mother struggle with a broom and mop every day in their house in Kochi, a little boy pestered his parents to get him some tools and instruments and made a robot to clean the floor.
That feat opened a window for Sarang Sumesh, 9, and earned him a ticket to the Silicon Valley, US, in 2016 to participate in Maker Faire festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness. The trip was sponsored by a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley.
Sarang is obsessed with robots. When children of his age are busy with games and toys, he is running against time delivering lectures and giving demonstrations in the country and abroad.
He has just returned from Ahmedabad science fest and is getting ready for his second Maker Faire appearance in San Francisco. Rated as the youngster Tedex (thinkers, doers and idea generators’ conclave) speaker of the country he also spoke at Fab 12 Conference in Shenzhen in China last year.
“My role model is my father who imbibed a scientific spirit in me. I also love our former President APJ Abdul Kalam who always used to ask youngsters to dream big,” said Sarang who once wanted to become a space scientist.
His latest innovation is a smart car seat belt that automatically detaches in case of fire and accident. The innovation was sparked by a tragedy in Thrissur when the head of a family, while managing to help everyone else escape from their car which had caught fire, could not extricate himself as his seat belt got jammed. Sarang got down to work soon after the tragedy to come up with the smart seat belt.
How and when did the boy develop scientific temperament? “At the age of three, he developed inclination for electronic goods. He used to dismantle devices and refit them. We noticed his prowess when he was four,” said his mother Sreejaya, a former school teacher, adding he got his first lesson from his father VS Sumesh, an electronics engineer, currently working in the US.
Sarang and his mother returned to Kochi from the US when the boy was three years old to live with his old paternal grandparents.
“I love experimenting with new devices. I feel innovations should help ease lives of human beings,” said the Class 4 student of Choice International School.