Meet Samarth Dhadwal: A Young ChangemakerÂ
As a kid, I was always interested in playing with Lego and as I grew up I got more curious and began experimenting and learning how to use the Lego Spike Prime, Spike Essential, Microbit, etc to make my builds move and perform tasks. This hands-on exploration laid a strong foundation for engineering and a love for the use of technology. I was lucky to have amazing teachers to guide me and challenge me to work on complicated builds approaching problems with a scientific mindset. I have represented my school in a lot of robotics and coding competitions and continue to do so while broadening my knowledge. Of late I have been really interested in Artificial Intelligence. My dream is to join NASA one day, till then my curiosity and determination will ensure I keep building and coding.
- How do you think learning about STEM subjects helps you understand the world around you? Can you give an example?
STEM teaches me to be inquisitive and ask why. Learning STEM subjects encourages me to look for creative sustainable solutions to any problem at hand.
I was always excited about building from the time my parents bought me my first Lego set at age 2. From my initial simple builds to a deeper understanding of the engineering behind the structure to ensure stability,strength, and ability to withstand environmental hazards I have come a long way and have learnt many things in the process. One recent example of how STEM helped me understand the world around me would be my ICT project.
While working on my ICT project in school I learnt how STEM was used at the airports. I decided to make a mini model of the Dubai Airport to share my learning with fellow students and anyone who was fascinated by the workings of an airport. I realized that even though I had crossed the airport many times I never thought how it worked until I actually began working on my project. Right from the motion sensor door at the entrance of the airport building to the luggage sorter to facial recognition at the immigration counter,the Dubai airport is highly advanced and uses a lot of automation.I was able to build and code a motion sensor door and a conveyor belt which actually worked.I used a 3D printer for the first time and printed a few suitcases and painted them and successfully built and coded a color sorter to show how the baggage was sorted at the airport. I was happy to be able to build and code them successfully. To show the working of the immigration counter I built a smart gate and coded it to facial recognition of a lego minifigure so if all documents were ok the barrier would recognize the figure and open while the display screen on the hub would show a smiley face and the lego figure could pass and if an unrecognized face tried to cross it would activate an alarm. It was a really fascinating project where I was able to understand the AI and technology used at the airport and be able to build and code some of those in my mini-airport model.
- What skills do you believe are important for success in STEM fields, and how have you practiced these skills in your projects?
STEM stands for Science, Technology Engineering, and Math but in reality, it is about having a much larger skillset. In addition to being interested and significantly good in these subjects, one must always be curious and determined and willing to find economical and sustainable ways to use their knowledge to solve real-world problems. It is only because scientists all over the world questioned why and how they managed to develop COVID-19 vaccines in record time and because of the successful collaborations it was successfully produced and distributed all over the world. During the Innoventures Robotics Competition in 2022 , I participated in the STEAM Innovators challenge from the primary team after our competition we went to see the secondary teams compete in a different category in the same competition. Their robot was damaged after round 1 and I was able to use my knowledge about robotics and think fast and pitch in to solve their problem by suggesting that the car I made for my competition could be modified to build a robot and together we collaborated and improvised on their existing robot to build a new stronger robot that eventually won. My curiosity about how an airport functions made me delve deep into understanding of the various technologies used at the airport and my engineering skills helped me build the mini airport model and code it to make it functional. During the WRO 2023 organized by Unique World Robotics, my teammate and I built and coded the robot and it worked perfectly during the trials but we faced some difficulties with the code to one of the missions so for the second round our quick-thinking and problem-solving skills came in handy and we were able to modify a part of the code as well as strategize to first target the missions with the maximum points so we score a good total to make up for the point loss the round 1. The change in strategy worked in our favour as in the best of 3 rounds score we secured the highest so we emerged as champions in the competition.
- Can you describe a situation where you had to apply critical thinking or problem-solving skills during a STEM project? What was the outcome?
Problems are a plenty when doing any project, be it STEM or anything else, and I have had my fair share of those. From robots breaking mid-way during a competition to the battery dying in the middle to the code just getting stuck. Improvision and thinking on the spot are always beneficial. I still remember it was my first time at the Innoventures Robotics competition,I was part of the primary school team we were done with our competition but our school senior team was still competing in the Robot Football challenge in the same competition . During the 1st round, their robot was significantly destroyed and they did not have enough time or parts to build a fresh robot so I pitched in and modified the car I had made for my primary team competition and attached their pieces to make a functional strong robot with the seniors and they eventually came 2nd in the competition.It was a proud moment even though the primary team didn’t make it I felt that I had done well and was able to come up with a workable solution that the seniors were happy to use and won the competition …even without a medal I felt like a winner that day.
- How do you feel collaboration plays a role in STEM learning, and can you share a positive experience you had while working with others?
Collaboration is key to any team competition. I had the privilege of being the team captain of team RWA for our FLL Challenge competition, as captain it was important for me to understand the strengths of my teammates and assign tasks accordingly to ensure that all the team members had roles according to their skill sets while still enjoying the journey and working together to bring out the best in each other. We were able to ensure that we completed our build, code, and missions on time and were at par with a lot of the teams that had senior students. It was a very good experience.
- In what ways do you stay curious about new discoveries or technologies in STEM, and how do you explore these interests outside of school?
STEM is forever evolving and it is not an easy task keeping up with the latest technologies and languages in the subject. I spend a lot of time reading about new technologies (such as Generative AI), exploring the latest discoveries in space (on nasa.com), expanding my knowledge in science, and learning new coding languages etc. Outside of school, I take on additional classes and prepare for regional and global competitions. I get very excited when I am able to build new things and code them to make them fully functional.
