THE TRANSFORMERS

FOUR ENGINEERING STUDENTS STARTED WITH A MILITARY BOT, AND ARE NOW MAKING SCAVENGERS, STROKE AIDS, AND AUTONOMOUS ROBOT SOLDIERS.

- BY P.B. JAYAKUMAR

AMES CAMERON'S 2009 science fiction film Avatar featured giant two-legged humanoid robots, which soldiers operated from torso seats to battle the blue-skinned ‘Na’vi’ people of the imaginary world of Pandora. Avatar's robots, products of CGI and special effects, inspired South Korea’s Hankook Mirae Technology to produce a 13-foot-tall, 1.5-tonne robot exoskeleton by the end of 2016. Hankook Mirae billed it as the world’s first manned bipedal robot built to work in hazardous areas where humans cannot go.

But that distinction of being the ‘first’ could also go to some students in India. In 2015, four B.Tech students from MES College of Engineering at Kuttippuram in Kerala’s Malappuram district had designed an exoskeleton like the Iron Man suit. Arun George, Vimal Govind M.K., Rashid K., and Nikhil N.P., who were active in the National Service Scheme (NSS), wanted to leverage engineering and robotics to make a positive impact on society.

Vimal, whose father was in the army, was aware of the difficulties of transporting heavy weapons and supplies in hostile environments such as Kargil. The four friends designed a robot that could walk on rough terrain with heavy payloads. The idea died as a blueprint because private participation in defence procurement had not gained steam at that time.

But, a year later, the youngsters won the best concept award at the International Conference on Mechatronics & Manufacturing, held in Singapore. When they graduated, they were given two options by their parents: get a postgraduate degree or get a job.