Neo's Robontu

A new class was starting in the school’s tech block—Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

- Alka Jain

The students were excited. But right in the front row, as always, sat the sharp and curious eighth grader, Neo Mehta. His name was as stylish as his thinking was futuristic.

Into the classroom walked Mr. Gajendra. His moustache was so perfectly stiff, it seemed ready to slice through any question like a sword.

As soon as he entered, he said, “Today we'll learn about robotics. Can anyone tell me what robotics is?”

Neo shot his hand up, “Sir, robotics is the field where we design machines to think and work like humans. It involves motors, sensors, actuators and microprocessors.”

Mr. Gajendra smiled, “Excellent answer!”

Neo asked again, “Sir, can we add speech recognition so that the robot can understand us? And if we integrate artificial neural networks, will it be able to make its own decisions?”

Now the teacher looked a bit embarrassed and whispered to himself, “Hmm ... this kid should be a professor!”

The next day, Mr. Gajendra came fully prepared. But Neo’s curiosity was relentless. Now his questions were about deep ethical protocols and the emotional components of machine learning.

During lunch break, Mr. Gajendra visited the principal, Ms. Madhushree.

“Ma’am, Neo wants to learn far beyond this class’s scope. We need to make special arrangements for him.”

Ms. Madhushree replied, “We should encourage students like him. Let’s start a Future Scientist Club. But for now, he needs a special mentor.”

The next day, the school announced a five-day holiday. All the kids were planning to play.

Neo said, “This time, I’m not going to play at all.”

“You say that every time,” said his friends Ravi, Sakshi, Aman and Priyanka.

But this time Neo truly locked himself in his room. He downloaded open-source codes, used a 3D printer to create parts for a robot and even made a custom chip—the “Neo-Processor.”