JOIN USRoboticist at heart, this Haryana teenager raises the bar
The excitement was writ large. Haryana government employee Amit Dilbagi boarded a flight to California, USA, on Saturday because of his 16-year-old son.
The ticket was complementary for him, so were all the expenses for lodging and boarding in the US. His son Arsh Shah Dilbagi is neither a cash-rich bread earner of the family nor has won a lottery to sponsor a foreign trip for his parents. Arsh--he rather prefers being called ‘Robo’-- is still to appear for his grade 12 examination.
But at this age, he has done something so unique and noteworthy that it has made everyone proud of him. His parents just can’t help gloating in pride. Their son Arsh has invented “Talk”-- a rare potable device that helps people with speech impairments and developmental disabilities to speak and communicate using their breath. His project is among the 15 global projects shortlisted for the Google Science Fair (GSF) Award 2014 beginning Sunday in California.
And the father had absolutely no qualms, rightly so, in accepting Google’s offer of traveling free along with Arsh and enjoying all the hospitality that lies ahead in California.In fact, in the Google contest, Arsh is the lone participant not only from India but also from the entire Asian region. “It’s a rare feat for all of us. I am also taking my wife along. Always knew my son had something special within. He’s a winner already,” Amit said told Deccan Herald shortly before boarding his flight from the international airport in New Delhi .
He would be demonstrating his Talk device live before an expert gathering in California. If Arsh wins the top prize for the best invention on September 24, he would walk away with a scholarship cash prize of $ 25,000 (over Rs 15 lakh), besides other accolades and incentives.
Arsh’s father is an executive engineer with the Haryana government power utility. The family stays in township of Panipat in Haryana, known for the epic battles of Panipat. But the battle is not what is inspiring for this young Haryana teenager. In fact, Robo says his inspiration comes from innovator Steve Jobs and Stephen Hawking for his work in the field of theoretical Physics.
“I’m fascinated by Isaac Asimov for amazing hard science fictions. It’s now my turn to change the world for a better future,” a confident Arsh told Deccan Herald. Talk, he says, is an innovative augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device to tackle speech disorders and developmental disabilities that hinder patients to talk.
Arsh says he submitted his project online to Google in February this year. The initial competition was equally tough with thousands of projects submitted from across the globe.
“Ninety projects, including five from India, were shortlisted by the judges. Eventually, after rounds of online interviews by the judges, 15 projects from nine countries were selected. My Talk project was the only one selected from the Asia region,” Arsh said. Unlike similar products that cost a fortune, Arsh says, “Talk is affordable and will cost less than $100”.
So what’s the enthusiasm about Talk. Robo explains: “People suffering from developmental disabilities like Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease are almost entirely paralysed and this disables them to communicate in any way, except using an AAC device. Estimates show that approximately 1.4 per cent of world population suffers from such disorders which are more than the entire population of Germany. The life expectancy of such people is estimated at 20 years below average, mainly because of lack of expression,” he says.
The device is an affordable, faster, portable and generic solution to all these problems, he adds. Simply put, the device uses a person’s breath which after a process is converted to words and sentences and sent to another microprocessor for synthesising.
Talk features two modes--one to communicate in English and other to give specific commands, phrases, and 9 different voices. “It increases the speaking rate and has multiple features like encoding where a single alphabet is converted into a sentence,” he explains. A student of Delhi Public School in Panipat, where he has been studying since he was a child, Robo says he’s a “Roboticist at heart”.
Arsh started showing early signs of excellence. He was the national winner in the Indian Robotic Olympiad in 2010 and further went on to win the award of excellence abroad at Manila. For the next two years, he continued with the same winning streak and was even awarded by former President Pratibha Patil.
“For me, it means a lot if I win this contest. It will ensure good education for me to pursue my dream of being an innovator,” Robo said.
Amit shares an incident about his son when he was studying in grade 7. He said he saw a television show where a person displayed unmatched talent as he demonstrated mathematical calculations without using any device at lightning speed. “It was extremely impressive and I told Arsh that he should master something like this in life. My son told me that he could match the talent even now simply just by mastering how to use a calculator faster than anybody else,” Amit said.
His son’s reply was perplexing to say the least. He said, “Daddy, I want to do something that can help the ones who need it most, something that has larger benefits for those suffering.”
Like all mothers, Robo’s mother Ritu is also a believer in faith and says her prayers too will make a difference.
Six awards will be given among the 15 participants. There is also a voters’ choice award, and Arsh has appealed to Indians to cast their votes in his favour. Those intending to vote should visit www.googlesciencefair.com. and then select Arsh's project and click “yes” for him. Voting lines opened on September 15.