User:Eyantra IIT B/sandbox

e-Yantra is a project funded under India's Ministry of HRD's (MHRD) National Mission for Education using ICT (NMEICT) e-Yantra was launched in 2010 as a pilot and at present is in Phase-2 of its scale-up. As such it is one of the flagship projects under the mission.

1.	How it all started?
When Prof. Kavi Arya and Prof. Krithi Ramamritham of the Computer science Department, IIT Bombay, taught the Embedded Systems course through the Distance Education Program, it was difficult to get the concepts across because the students didn't have a Robotics lab.

At that time students were trained on "microcontroller development kits" which are pretty mundane. Students learn better when they see things move and lights flash, etc. - under their control. They hence decided to set up a Robotics lab, but robots were either not available locally or too expensive and not supported locally. This experience led the two professors to design a robot using a microcontroller that can sense its environment and do things.

The robot is now a part of an open source eco-system, which keeps the costs low. Their team ensured that software written for it is reusable. Students began to use other students’ code whereby more complex applications were developed than if the students were to build everything from scratch. For instance if a cleaning robot wanted a "localization program" which helps it identify where on the arena it is, somebody would already have written code for this. This approach gives e-Yantra robots their real power - the power of open source and that of thousands of developers building reusable projects which might be a component of another students’ project. Rarely do we build a complex system from scratch without reusing pre-existing artefacts. In all this, the robot is a commodity item – it is the "pen" with which we can write interesting "robotic stories."

2.	Creating engineers:
''Who is an engineer? Someone who solves societal problems with the help of technology!''

e-Yantra encourages a "can do" attitude amongst students that prepares them for a career in research or as technology entrepreneurs. Students are encouraged to use robots to solve “real-life problems." For instance, room cleaning was used as a theme for the e-Yantra Robotics Competition – 2012 . The problem was prototyped, by making a square shaped arena to represent a room in which plastic granules were placed as dust particles. The challenge was to build a servo controlled ‘jhadoo’ or broom that ‘sweeps the floor’ and collects ‘dust’. Our approach instils a ‘can do’ attitude rather than a bookish theoretical knowledge far removed from reality.

3.	Identifying and nurturing talent:
Through the e-Yantra Robotics Competition, talent in colleges all over India has been discovered.

For instance, a team of girls from a small town like Sivakasi (Tamil Nadu), held its own participating in the finals. Important skill that students pick up in their e-Yantra experience include Communication skills - so important to an engineer. Through deliverables in a project they learn to express themselves and to communicate through both the printed word and visual communication using “PowerPoint” and video presentations. The kind of person that comes through the mill, we anticipate, does justice to a good academic programme. E-yantra encourages students to discover talents within themselves and hope to discover research and academic ability - it is win-win for all stakeholders.

4.	BE project variety:
e-Yantra naturally lends itself to motivating exciting BE projects where students can learn through hands-on experiments with the robots.

Often we hear stories about students failing themselves by “purchasing” projects for their BE project. This is sad. Part of the reason for this is that students don't realize that a well executed BE project is like a ‘janam kundali’ or horoscope of their birth as an engineer. The project is where practical engineering skills get honed. Most good postgraduate engineering schools often quiz entrants about their technical competence by discussing their BE project experience. e-Yantra lends itself to motivating exciting BE projects where students can learn a lot through “Project-Based Learning” with the robots.

5.	The e-Yantra Lab Setup Initiative (eLSI):
eLSI fills the gap in facilitating good BE projects by setting up Robotics labs at colleges and training teachers.

Setting up a Robotics lab facility requires space, funding, and list of material for setting up the lab, in addition to trained manpower for effectively using the lab resources. e-Yantra’s three pronged approach provides the necessary support for the engineering colleges to successfully launch their Robotics lab and student projects.

e-Yantra is involved in the following:

1. Training and hands-on experience for teachers through (i) a two-day workshop on basic concepts of embedded systems and micro-controller programming and (ii) e-Yantra Robotics Teacher Competition (eYRTC) to impart hands-on training. 2. Basic robotic kit to colleges that successfully participate in the e-Yantra Robotics Teacher Competition. 3. Consultancy and support for setting up a Robotics lab. 4. Expert feedback on student projects during initial years.

''e-Yantra thus strives to achieve the goals set by the National Mission on Education through ICT by involving all the three stakeholder groups – Colleges, Teachers, and Students – to achieve a sustainable and scalable solution for better engineering education in our colleges. E-Yantra helps train better engineers for the India.''