Young talent

When children take responsibility to make an impact in their own life and the life of other children, we see a change, more so, when children who have less opportunities take the lead. Meet a group of children who used a creative opportunity to not just empower themselves but to work for other children.

Manoj Basu, whose father is a driver and mother, a maid, did not allow his background to affect his willingness to learn about robotics and make a vacuum cleaner for other children. A student of class IX from Lord Mahavira School, Noida, he and his team members showcased the project in I CAN, a one-day festival organised by Dreaming Child Productions and Vidya and Child School in the NCR region recently.

Their team made a vacuum cleaner toy car after a bit of research on the net. "We used a toy car and attached a trolley to the toy car so that the dirt is collected in the trolley. The trolley also had wheels attached to it. To power the car, we used two batteries of six volts each. We used a sun board, paint brushes, which were attached on the opposite side of the trolley. These brushes would collect dirt and put it in the trolley. We had a remote control to control the movements of the car," says Basu.

Talking about the challenges that the team faced while making the vacuum cleaner, Basu says, "We didn't know what battery size to use for the motor. We used a large one and the batteries were fused. It took us timke to understand the kind of batteries that could be used for the model," says Basu. Making the vacuum cleaner toy car was a new experience for them and this has encouraged him.

"We didn't make the vacuum using any kind of software and so the next time, we make something, we want to try and develop it through software," he concludes.

The one-day festival also showcased work in areas such as robotics, electronics, filmmaking, set design, architecture, film-editing, choreography and mass communication.