Orange Electric teaching Robotics to students
Have you ever heard of a corporate getting involved in teaching kids
as young as 6 years of age? Orange Electric is doing just that.
Students at the training workshop |
In a small classroom located alongside Cotta Road in Borella, a group
of Sri Lankan students, aged between 6-12, are now learning how to make
robots, a highly advanced technology that is sweeping throughout the
world.
"We at Orange Electric, saw a need to teach Robotics to our children
as most curriculum's are seeping in theory and leaves no room for
understanding science from a practical point of view. What is robotics?
It is targeted mainly at the student who would ultimately become an
engineer of sorts, and is basically stemming from the idea of teaching
concepts and logic away from the textbook" Kushan Kodituwakku, Managing
Director of Orange Electric says "we need to teach children that the
highest level of wisdom comes from one's own experiences rather than
reading or hearing about it."
Orange Electric has a very robust Research and Development division,
and has now taken up teaching Robotics to students of Northwood Global
College, Sri Lanka's first corporate sponsored school that began under
the patronage of a group of old boys of D.S. Senanayake College, to
inspire values to children .
Kumari Wickremasinghe, Principal of the Northwood Global College says
the initiative to conduct lessons on robotics comes in tandem with the
objectives behind creating the school, "Our College is the first
'corporate international school' in Sri Lanka.
It is administered by a board of directors most of whom were students
of D.S. Senanayake College during the tenure of its former Principal
R.I.T. Alles. We did not want to create just-another-international
school. We wanted to give a value to the system and inculcate good
qualities and good values among students.
This is actually what our directors inherited from R.I.T. Alles. It
is in this context that the school started conducting lessons of
robotics for young students."
Manoj Illangasooriya, Head of orange Electric's innovation venter
conducts Robotics lessons every Saturday.
Manoj says "Robotics is not only about making robots it also offers
children various opportunities for the future. When they study Robotics,
they not only learn about all the aspects of electronics including the
exposure to motors, wires, batteries, to magnets, power supplies, to
transistors and resisters, but also get them to think out of the bos
allowing them to bring out their creative genius.
This is the most important outcome of these lessons.Ó In addition to
Manoj, IndikaKulathunga, an R & D Engineer and also an old boy of D.S.
Senanayake College takes up the lesson alternatively.
Manoj explains as the course progresses, students will learn more
in-depth matters from fundamentals of electronics, to programming of
robots by writing codes.
Commenting on the scope of operations in the innovations division of
Orange, Illangasooriya adds that it constitutes the core of research and
development of Orange Electric.
"Apart from conducting lectures on robotics for children, we are the
hub for innovation at Orange Electric. It always gives us an edge over
our competitors and we have so far designed more than 200 new products
for brand Orange and no other competitor in Sri Lanka has a robust R & D
mechanism of this nature," Illangasooriya said. Another important aspect
of Orange R& D is the role it plays to identify the needs of various
export markets. "Each export market has its own unique requirements. For
instance, the products we design for Singapore sometimes is entirely
different to that of the needs of Pakistan. Therefore, we, have to
design and make new products to enter into each market customizing our
products," Illangasooriya states.
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