Chennai-based Kidobotikz which recently started its Bengaluru chapter launched the first food serving robot named Butler ‘O’ Bistro (BOB) in Bengaluru’s VR mall. The robot was built by its students Arjun, Anish and Varsha.Anish worked on the mechanical designing (the structure) and electronics design (sensor placements, face design, microcontroller wirings etc) while Arjun gave the brain to the robot by coding the logics to complete the task."I always found robotics very interesting and after telling this to dad, he took me Kidobotikz. At first, I wanted to build a cleaning robot but then changed the plan and built BoB in three months," says 13-year old Arjun sipping coffee with his younger friend Anish.Further explaining how BoB works, Arjun says that once you order the food and it is ready in the kitchen, it is placed on the robot. Then after being given a go ahead, BoB begins to walk in a predetermined route from the kitchen to the tables. Using wheels for traction, it follows a line embedded on the floor to move between locations. It also has ultrasonic sensors that gauge the distance between itself and passersby. Once it reaches the particular table, it requests the guests to receive the food. After the food tray has been emptied, it greets them with a smile and begins to go back to its place in the kitchen.Answering what could have been done better in the robot, Anish says the battery lasts upto 6-hours which possibly could have been improved. Further talking about his future projects, he cheekily says, "Next time I’ll make a robot that will finish my homework.” Edtech startup Kidbotikz which was incorporated in 2012, pivoted from offline to online classrooms in 2016. The startup founded by married couple Sneha Priya and Pranavan Santhanakrishnan provides practical learning along with the theoretical knowledge. With robotics as a theme, the company has a series of kits that concentrate on teaching electronics, mechanical and programming."To start learning with us, a student first has to buy the kit and then start building a robot with it. After that we start with the online lessons and regularly check if the student is coping up or needs other methods of teaching,” says Sneha. These kits range between Rs 5000-15,000.Once a student starts with the lessons, based on artificial intelligence, the learning becomes personalized and helps to understand each student’s field of interest and strength. The learnings have different levels and the courses include animations, design thinking, machine learning.Sneha further says that Kidobotikz regularly partners with several companies who are interested in robots and once they have a request, the kids start building it which becomes a learning process for them. Kidbotikz had earlier built a robot for Express Avenue mall in Chennai, where the autonomous robot helps in guiding the customers through the mall.The startup is currently present in Chennai, Bengaluru, Cochin with over 1000 kids in its Chennai and Cochin communities. "We launched in Bengaluru earlier this year and already have over 100 kids in our community now. Along with school kids we also see many college students and working professionals who take interest in learning coding and so there no age-boundaries are given,” says Sneha.