Gadget guru

When Vinay K.C. needs a gizmo, he just creates one!

Vinay K.C., a 14-year-old boy from Bagalkot in North Karnataka, no longer keeps track of how many electronic toys he has created. “I have lost count of it. I dismantle the object I create and go for a new one. I do not ask my parents to buy me toys,” he says.

Vinay, a science enthusiast, was one of the participants in the “Hobby Projects” section of “Srishti”, a State-level project exhibition competition organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), here recently. He had brought “Humanoid”, a little gizmo that acts according to the commands given on a laptop by Vinay.

Creative

Vinay is passionate about creating objects using artificial intelligence, says Jayashree Ganthimath, Assistant Professor in an engineering college in Bagalkot and Vinay's mother. An instance of his interest in creating electronic toys is one gizmo that he has developed that feed their pet dog on time.

“When he was in Std V, he said he wished he had a pet dog. As we both (parents) work, we told him we would not be able to provide food for the dog on time. In just a few days, he created an object that provided food on time. We had to accept his wish and get a pet dog,” said Ms. Ganthimath.

In creating the toys, Vinay has recycled objects such as used saline bottles and syringes, which he sourced from his sister, who is studying medicine. “He has moved on to creating mechanisms such as one that showers flower petals when a person opens the door (this could be used for birthdays),” she said. His passion for creating such gizmos made her and his father, K. Chandrashekar, a Physics professor in the same engineering college, shift him from a Kannada medium school to an English Medium school in Bagalkot, Ms. Ganthimath said.

Self-taught

Vinay uses integrated circuits (ICs), capacitors, and microcontrollers for creating objects. “I browse through the Internet and get all information about its (objects') working. So far I have not faced difficulty in understanding information available on the Internet,” he said.

Vinay said he has not thought of participating in any science competition for schoolchildren. “I want to become a scientist and focus on science,” he said.