The one passion that drives this teen robotics whiz to keep innovating

AsiaOne

"Be willing to put in the time. Designing and building a robot takes effort, but the experience is incredibly rewarding." quips Declan as he tinkers with his robots and ponders what's next in his robotics pursuit.  Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video

Transcript

00:00Well, I enjoy going to coding lessons.

00:06This is the one thing that he really is passionate about.

00:09Hi, my name is Declan and I do robotics.

00:13I've made a bunch of different projects like a walking robot and a sorting robot, among

00:20others.

00:21So I was four years old when I first went to the boot camp, which my parents signed

00:27And that's just kind of what fueled my desire to start doing coding, because I found it

00:34extremely intriguing and fun.

00:39I recently went to the WRL competition in Turkey.

00:43Me and my friends stumbled upon the website, and as such, we decided to take part and then

00:49brainstorm ideas.

00:50Eventually, we decided on the sorting bin.

00:54So how the machine works is it has an AI camera, it scans the bottles which are placed

01:00inside the chamber, and it sorts it based on what it looks like.

01:04There's also a weight sensor at the bottom to detect whether or not the object has liquid

01:10or other things inside, and based on that, it'll decide whether it's contaminated or

01:15recyclable or e-waste.

01:20This robot here is a walking robot.

01:23It could detect obstacles and change direction if there was something in front of it.

01:27So I think for this robot, I hope to maybe waterproof it, to allow it to be able to explore

01:35underwater and on land.

01:37So I hope to be able to build robots that can help us explore the parts of the earth

01:43where it's hard to reach.

01:45I think, yes, I am naturally inclined towards robotics, but I also think that anyone can

01:54pick up robotics, because while it's similar to academics, there's really this part of

02:01you just creating new things, which is not part of the curriculum.

02:07I think robotics is something that he developed a passion for himself, and therefore I think

02:11it brings quite a lot of joy.

02:12I think one of the things that actually we find that robotics has really helped him grow

02:16is he's actually learned to, I think, persevere in what he does.

02:20When he was young, he did a lot of building Tamiya cars and a lot of Lego building with

02:25my husband.

02:26Because I think I noticed that even within the robotics world, his favourite is actually

02:30the building part.

02:31Does Neklin spend all his time coding?

02:33He doesn't actually.

02:34He's outdoors a lot.

02:36On the weekends, as a family, we make an effort either to go out to the beach or to go hiking.

02:42We try and find different trails all over Singapore.

02:45Our holidays are also very centred around being outdoors, so I would say he definitely

02:49doesn't spend all his time coding.

02:51The thing about robotics is that it's very time-consuming, and when you're designing,

02:57you also have to be able to multitask, because there's wiring, there's programming, and there's

03:02building where the robot can easily fall apart if just one of them has minor issues.

03:09What advice do you have for those who also want to go into robotics like you did?

03:13I think that they need to know the commitment that comes with robotics.

03:17You have to be willing to put in the time to develop the robot, because it really takes

03:22a lot of time to design and build a robot.

03:26I've considered not doing robotics once or twice in the last 10 years, especially for

03:31Primary 6, PSLE.

03:33In the end, I am glad I didn't, because it's allowed me to achieve so many different things,

03:39like winning the competition, and it just kind of inspires me.

03:45If he were to develop this into a career, I think it would be more than supportive.

03:48I think it's important for him to do something that he's passionate about, something that

03:51he would look forward to going to work every day, and that would be nice, right?

03:56So it's quite a good experience for me, and it's quite encouraging, and I think that's

04:01what kept me coming back.

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