Let’s hear it from Arsh

Standard XII for most students is a time of great stress — extra tuitions, unending revisions ahead of final examinations and deciding on the courses to apply for in college. Arsh Shah Dilbagi, however, is spared of this set of worries as he has another one to grapple with. What will he speak about at his upcoming Tedx talk, how can he build on the Voter’s Choice accolade he won at the Google Science Fair, how to commercialise his innovations and, of course, somewhere at the back of his mind, how to get good grades in his exams?

The only Asian in the final round of the Google Science Fair this year, his innovation, Talk, is an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device that could change the lives of many who have speech impairments including those with neurodegenerative disease and congenital impairment such as cerebral palsy, autism and Parkinson’s disease. The user’s breath patterns are processed through Morse code, and the device — no heavier than a regular smart phone — takes only 0.8 seconds to dictate the letter ‘A’, 0.4 seconds for ‘E’ and so on. Most importantly, it will be affordable ($200 roughly) and life-changing for more than 1.4 million Indians afflicted by strokes each year.

A Lego story

“I didn’t want him to sit in front of the TV all day, so I got him a Lego kit instead of a PlayStation,” says Arsh’s father, Amit Dilbagi, a 46-year-old executive engineer at the thermal power plant in Panipat.

He and his wife, Ritu, have supported their son’s endeavours since he was an adolescent, and Arsh always travels in his father’s company.

When we met, they had just driven over from Panipat to a south Delhi school, where Arsh was speaking at a tech conference.

The Lego Mindstorms kit from his father was Arsh’s first step into the world of robotics.

“It was probably the first Lego kit that was shipped to Panipat,” says Arsh. “I always wanted a dog, so one of the first things I built was a robot-dog.” That was in 2010 as a 12-year-old, the same year he won the national-level Indian Robot Olympiads. He won a regional competition the next year. He has since built a 50-centimetre-tall humanoid which, according to him, can do pushups, stand on its head and climb stairs, as also a hexapod (spiderlike robot) and an unmanned ground vehicle that fetched him honours in 2012 from the then President, Pratibha Patil.

Apart from a fully functional lab at his Panipat home that is equipped with soldering stations, glue guns and high-end computers, Arsh owns eight robotics kits at last count. “I make frequent trips to Nehru Place and Lajpat Rai market in Delhi to pick up spares. There are also a few websites from which I order what I need,” he says, adding, “I have been lucky to have parents who support me and provide all the resources. I have a nice, big room with everything I need.”

The Google experience

“There was a chauffer-driven Cadillac waiting for us outside the airport,” he gushes about his experience at Palo Alto, California, during the Google Science Fair’s final round last month. “The setting was quite unconventional.

We had a full crash-pad with everything — Xboxes, table-tennis setups, mini-golf, anything that suits your fancy. We were treated like total celebrities.”

This was the fourth edition of the annual competition organised by Google, Lego, Virgin Galactic, National Geographic and the Scientific American magazine. There were many Indian-American children in the final round, but Arsh was the sole entrant from Asia.

“I was really happy that I got the voters’ choice award. I was eyeing the grand prize, but this award was selected by the audience and I’m glad people believe that my device can change the world,” he says.

Since the award, Arsh and his family have been receiving many calls from prospective buyers, but they first have to decide how to manufacture Talk commercially. “Even though it only started as his science project, it has become something more now. Literally, it gives voice to the voiceless,” says Dilbagi.

Arsh is looking for some financial aid. “I love robotics, but it is an expensive subject and there are hardly any scholarships at the undergraduate level. I’m looking for funding to study further and enrol in a great institution," he says. In the meantime, there’s still work in progress. “I’m making modifications to Talk.

Next is a system where you plug in to a monitor using an HDMI portal and you can access the Internet using your breath alone. A breathcontrolled operating system of sorts.”