Topic: Robotics and Recent Trends in Robotic Science

The speaker, Dr. Shantipal Ohol, was introduced by Mr. Samir Dhurde of IUCAA. Dr. Ohol is  The Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering Dept. College of Engineering, Pune. He is the In-charge of Centralized Robotics and Automation Lab and Faculty Co-ordinator Robot study circle, COE, Pune. He started his lecture with introduction of the topic and the need to make Robots. The Basics and Applications of Robotics System was also explained. In 1921, a Czech playwright, Karel Capek gave the name ROBOT ( from Czech  word Robota- meaning forced labourer or Slave). Robotic Industrial Association(RIA) defined a Robot as, a  re programmable multifunctional design to perform variety of task. George Devol is known as the Father of Robotics. In 1954, he made the first robot. Different types of robots, like humanoids, androids, actoids, geminoids, quadcopter etc. were introduced with the help of pictures and videos. Videos showing how robots are used in different fields were  shown.

He was accompanied with three of his Post graduation students, who had made three robots. They demonstrated the working of the robots, which could greet, whistle , do exercise etc. Students were very excited and thrilled seeing all this. The lecture  was very  interesting, motivating students to think of pursuing a career in Robotics and contribute their bit. The lecture got extended by half an hour and hence Question-answer session could not be taken. Overall it was an impressive lecture.