My bionic arm at Bett

My bionic arm at Bett

After being impressed by student Rishabh Java's bionic arm at the Bett show, we invited him to blog about his invention and travels to the UK. Rishabh is pictured above at the Bett show giving Cambridge International Examinations' Chief Executive, Michael O'Sullivan, a live demonstration of the bionic arm he built.

A few months ago I was just browsing the internet looking for something new or different when I happened to come across this Star Wars Force Trainer mind-controlled toy. On doing a bit of research I realised I could modify the code of the headset and get it to work with my Arduino. Luckily my dad was abroad and he could find it in a store near him and it was my birthday the very next day, so he agreed to get it for me. After hours of making hardware and software changes, I managed to make a mind-controlled drone, which I presented at my school's 'Innovista' competition along with a Lego arm I had made. Then I thought, why not combine the two and make a mind-controlled bionic arm - and so the research on that project began. My goal with this project was simple - to make it possible for every amputee to be able to afford a prosthetic arm. I then went and discussed the project with my Principal to get her permission to print the parts with the school's 3D printer. She permitted me and also got me enrolled on a competition, the Gulf 3D printing Olympiad, in which I happened to win the Best Innovation Project of the Year. One of the prizes was a trip to the Bett show, so after two and a half months of waiting, I flew to the UK in the last week of January. Now, a little about my visit.

The Bett show was an unforgettable experience. It is the world's largest education and science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) exhibition and being able to go there, meet so many new, interesting people and seeing so many new methods of teaching and learning was a lot of fun. I was presenting there for around two and a half hours every day and during that time I met so many people from different countries and cultures. I think one of the highlights of my trip was being able to meet and talk to the guy who made the world's first Arduino. The Microsoft Makerspace was no less interesting, as they were letting people have the experience of making our own flex sensor. Talking for a while to the people at Intel and the top executives from Microsoft was also a lot of fun. It was a trip filled with fun experiences from which I learnt a lot and tried lots of new innovations in education like VR (virtual reality), touch screen TVs and lots more. After four days at the Bett show I had the opportunity to look around London for three days. I took a day and night tour and saw almost all of London, visiting Madame Tussaud’s wax museum and the science museum, where I spent quite a lot of time. It all added up to an unforgettable experience.

Rishabh Java
Student, Gems Millenium School

Read more blogs from the Bett show

'Creating ed tech from our archives.'

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