Eighth grader wows all with his ‘crowd controller’ robot

Tallaj Baral, an eighth grader from the city of Pokhara, has built a robot which he says can be used in controlling ‘unruly crowds’, reports Kantipur Daily.

Encouraged by the success of the ‘football playing robot’ he had made before this, Tallaj got the idea of building this robot after feeling pity for policemen who face all sorts of difficulties and problems while controlling unruly crowds during street demonstrations and protests rallies that frequently occur in the country. The robot is built in a way that it can perform multiple tasks. It can do all the thing a normal policeman would do to disperse a unruly crowd in the event of a violent protests – charge at the mob with baton, use water canon, lob tear gas and even shoot. Baral claimed that this robot is the first of its kind to be built in Nepal.

“The policemen are always under great deal of pressure while trying to disperse a crowd during demonstrations and this shows in their action which almost always brings exactly the opposite result than intended,” Baral says confidently, “this is because we human beings are prone to error. So, in order not to repeat the same mistake, this kind of robot will come in very handy.”

Tallaj has been pursuing this hobby, which is rather unusual for an eight grader, from the past three years. Only last year he had exhibited a robot which played football.

After watching a football competition between robots in television three years ago, Tallaj was inspired to make a similar kind of robot. With the support and encouragement of his family, he started making robots in his own home. After three years he built his first robot, a replica of the one he saw in television. After the success of his first project and receiving little name and fame, he made his unique “crowd controller” robot in only two months.

When asked what would be his next project, Tallaj said, “I have plans to make a robot which could be used to free people who have been abducted or held hostages. I also have a idea for a robot which can plant paddies in farms.” The latter seems to be probable. nepalnews.com ag Oct 08 07