Building Uninsomnia: Teen entrepreneur Aaryan Singh wants youngsters to sleep better
Written by: Darshana Ramdev
(July 6, 2022) As his eleventh grade came to an end, AaryanSingh found his hobbies fall by the wayside and his free time vanish as academic pressures began to mount. “I became very sleep deprived because I was handling school, the foundation I started during the pandemic and other extra-curricular activities. I had dark circles around my eyes,”the teen entrepreneur told Global Indian. The 17-year-old is the founder of Uninsomnia, an app to help teens deal with sleep deprivation by analysing their schedules, connecting with Fitbits, smart watches and health apps on their phones.
When Aaryan talked to his friends about his sleep problem, he found them all in similar situations. “All of us were pulling all-nighters to cram for exams, we were exhausted,” he says. When he did some research, he was “blown away by what he found.” In the United States, some 69 percent of teenagers face sleep-related problems and disorders, insomnia being the most common. The information on India was sadly lacking and Aaryan did research of his own, finding that fifty percent of high school students don’t get proper sleep.
That’s how, in 2021, Aaryan began working on Uninsomnia. Users get custom sleep tips because the app will analyse their google calendars, connect with Fitbits and smart watches and other health apps. “It tells you when to drink coffee, when to sleep and what exercises you can do to relax and sleep better. It can even suggest melatonin but only if prescribed by a doctor.”
Aaryan, during his internship at Coca Cola
Targeting schools
Born and raised in Bhopal, AaryanSingh describes himself as someone who has always been “very curious, always looking for information, in love with technology.” Growing up, he would ask his parents for toy cars and helicopters, not to play with but to be able to take them apart and put them back together again.
In 2020, Aaryan says, “the main journey began.” When the pandemic hit India, Aaryan was volunteering with a local organisation to help underprivileged and local children. “I was helping the kids with their academics, especially computer science.” One day, he noticed some of the children making beautiful artwork.
“They knew a lot about CS, they were discussing algorithms and coding languages. They were curious to learn skills but didn’t have the opportunities,” he says. So, he set up the Buy To Cure Foundation and ran the organisation for about a year starting October 2020. “We would take drawings from the kids and print them on mugs and other merchandise,” says Aaryan. “Buy To Cure sold these through its e-commerce platform and 90 percent of the funds went back to the orphanages.”
Volunteering with underprivileged kids
Building the foundation
Setting up the foundation involved building a network of over 100 organisations including NGOs, orphanages and schools. Aaryan also created a global team of volunteers and raised over ₹3 lakh in under a year.
During the second lockdown, the organisation was unable to deliver its merchandise. “We told a local government official about the situation and the team was given special powers to go outside the house and move around,” he recalls.
Aaryan, who wants to major in CS and entrepreneurship, also conducts skill enhancing workshops in entrepreneurship and coding.
This April, Aaryan began the LaunchX Entrepreneurship Programme. He will work with entrepreneurial students from around the world to launch a startup and learn from professors from Harvard, MIT (Sloan School) and The Wharton School. He has also been selected into the Dex School of Leadership and Entrepreneurship’s Class of ’23, part of The Dexterity Global Group, founded by globally acclaimed social entrepreneur Sharad Vivek Sagar. His daily life includes juggling academics, which are top priority, his volunteer work and building Uninsomnia as a “one-man army.”
Following through on his deep interest in AI and Machine Learning, Aaryan is a Veritas AI Scholar and an Inspirit AI Scholar. He received a full scholarship for the former, which he began in June this year. As part of Veritas AI, Aaryan is working with Venu Regunath (Dartmouth College), Katrina Brown (Harvard University), and Shravan Ravishankar (University of Chicago), to study data science and artificial intelligence. “The focus is on image classification, AI ethics and why they matter, deep learning, NLP and Language Processing and other topics related to AI and Machine Learning,” says Aaryan, who is also a Global Young Leader and Changemaker 2022.
(September 26, 2023) When COVID hit the world, several schools were impacted around the globe. One such school was Parivartan Special School, which initiated Project Nishant, which provided the school and its students with crucial support during a financial crisis. It was for this project that a Grade 12 student of The Shri Ram School, Moulsari Campus, Gurugram, was first introduced to the world of neurodivergent individuals. Working as a volunteer for the project, Tarini Malhotra was moved by their everyday struggles, and the young entrepreneur decided to do something for these kids. “The person who contacted me is a family friend and was aware of how eager I was to do something in the field. I jumped at the opportunity and helped the school raise funds through crowdfunding," the 18-year-old entrepreneur said, adding, "The school was in urgent need of funds because of the pandemic. During the fundraising process, I got a chance to interact with the school students. I realised the problems they face, even when it comes to doing simple things in society — such as making friends or finding good schools. I learned that there are no avenues for them, especially if they come from the
got a chance to interact with the school students. I realised the problems they face, even when it comes to doing simple things in society — such as making friends or finding good schools. I learned that there are no avenues for them, especially if they come from the weaker sections of society.”
And thus was Nai Subah Foundation born - a social start-up fighting the good fight for the neurodiverse and the marginalised. The entrepreneur recently won the prestigious Diana Award 2023 for her social action and humanitarian work. "As a next-gen changemaker, who wants to create a better and more inclusive community for the neurodiverse, the world is often a hostile, unwelcoming place. Recognition from The Diana Award provides me the inspiration to carry on building the transformative journey. Further, it enhances the credibility of our start-up, helps to open doors, and develop more meaningful networks that can enable and enrich Nai Subah Foundation’s projects in a multitude of ways," she said after winning the award.
Always helping others
Growing up, Tarini was inclined towards helping others and was encouraged by her parents for the same. "In my school, we have some students who are neurodivergent and have disabilities. Spending time with them over many years made me sensitive to their needs and helped me understand the issues they face in society. This encouraged me to do something that would make a difference," the entrepreneur shared, adding, "When I was in Class 8, I volunteered as a teacher for a free school that taught children at the banks of Yamuna. That gave me a new perspective about these kids."
Talking about the time she joined hands with Project Nishant, she said, "I began spending a lot of time with children who had autism and ADHD. I found out that they were so talented. Our society focuses so much on what is wrong that they forget to glance at the positive aspects. Most people consider the neurodivergent to be a burden or a liability. This restricts their opportunities, making their life harder than it should be."
In 2020, the entrepreneur established Nai Subah Foundation, with an aim to focus on the well-being of neurodivergent people through various programmes. "The first thing that I wanted to do through the organisation was to provide the neurodivergent with avenues of work. We help them get jobs in the corporate sector. We also conduct sensitisation workshops so that they get assimilated into the space easily,” the entrepreneur said, adding, that the organisation has collaborations with over 50 companies till now.
Extending a helping hand
The organisation has implemented alternative employment models to support individuals who are unable to work in a traditional office setting. “For many people with neurodiversity, it is very difficult to go out of the house and work in an office environment. We outsource work from factories for them so they can work from home with ease. For example, we supply the materials needed to make boxes or packaging work, so they don’t have to face the stress of working in a factory,” the Global Indian explained.
[caption id="attachment_33269" align="aligncenter" width="648"] Members of the Nai Subah Foundation[/caption]
What's more, the entrepreneur is using their creative side to work as well. "We help artists find a platform by conducting exhibitions, both online and offline. This way, they get a chance to promote their work and get recognition. We also help them get orders; for instance, during Diwali, we try to secure orders for specially commissioned artworks of Lakhsmi and Ganesha," the entrepreneur said, "We are also mentoring four young neurodivergent photographers and helping them secure professional assignments."
The entrepreneur has huge plans for the foundation's future. "As for the future, we want to help neurodivergent entrepreneurs get funding and help them boost their ventures. This will not only uplift them but also uplift the people of their community,” she said.
This Women’s Day here are six young sheroes who've stepped into the limelight as they set about changing the world with their work and achievements. (March 8, 2022) They’re young, they’re fun and they’re raring to go. These young women know exactly what it takes to make a difference in a rapidly changing world and they’re channelising their talents in the right direction. From Karishma Mehta taking story telling to a whole new level, to giving performance art a new dimension, and conserving endangered languages, these women are in a league of their own. Global Indian turns the spotlight on some of these young movers and shakers as they gear up to take on the world. Shruti Rijhwani, researcher saving endangered languages The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Ph.D candidate at Carnegie Mellon University was named in the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 in science. Shruti Rijhwani researched, and has won accolades on the conservation of endangered language around the world. She pursued her BS degree in computer science at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 2015. Selected as a research intern in applied science at Microsoft Research India, in 2015, Shruti developed search software for retrieval and deduplication of misspelled entries.
nce. Shruti Rijhwani researched, and has won accolades on the conservation of endangered language around the world. She pursued her BS degree in computer science at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani in 2015. Selected as a research intern in applied science at Microsoft Research India, in 2015, Shruti developed search software for retrieval and deduplication of misspelled entries. Interning at Microsoft, and later at MIT Media Lab- Google Summer of Code, her forte in language conservation was to be her main stay.
In 2018, she was awarded a Bloomberg data science PhD Fellowship, and with that she became an expert on data science.
Shruti, who has been working on developing natural language processing technologies to help communities revitalise endangered languages, tweeted, “Incredibly honoured to be recognised on the 2022 @Forbes 30 under 30 list in science!” The Forbes moniker is just the beginning for this deeply research-oriented mind.
Her goal is to rejuvenate endangered languages. According to Unesco, about 40 percent of the world’s 7,000 languages are endangered. Rijhwani’s algorithms helped extract text from non-digitised books and handwritten documents and make them accessible online. At the Language Technologies Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Graham Neubig, she says, “My main research interest lies in natural language processing (NLP) and I have worked on various NLP tasks across a broad spectrum of domains and languages. My current research focuses on developing deep learning models for multilingual and low-resource NLP.”
An 18-year-old is just a step away from becoming the first-ever K-pop artiste from India. Meet Sriya Lenka, the singer who is among the two finalists set to grab a spot in the South Korean girl band Blackswan. The Rourkela-born dancer and yoga practitioner, beat thousands in auditions to gain the top spot. She is currently in Korea for a month-long training under DR Music company before the final showdown with Brazil’s Gabriela Strassburger Dalcin to win a spot in the girl band.
“Surreal,” is how Sriya describes her journey from Rourkela to Korea to train under the best in the music industry. DR Music recently shared photographs of the singer on Instagram and introduced her to the world as a Blackswan probable. A trained singer, Sriya initially had a tough time finding the perfect vocal trainer, but she eventually found a way. “I’d request everyone to support me and help me achieve my dreams,” the singer said.
Vrinda Chadha, 26, young Odissi dancer spreading art and culture
Vrinda Chadha has dance flowing through her entire being. The senior disciple of renowned Odissi dance exponent Guru Ranjana Gauhar, Vrinda has been training under her for the past 20 years since she was six. Vrinda, an alumna of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, also received a national scholarship for Odissi dance from the ministry of culture and is empanelled with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Doordarshan. Her mudras and expertise have taken her across the globe – Spain, Argentina, Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, United Kingdom, Madagascar, and Seychelles. Conferred with the Nalanda Nritya Nipuna Award in Mumbai, the Young Talent Award by the International Academy of Mohiniyattam in Delhi, the title of Odissi Ratna in Bhubaneswar and the Kameshwari Award in Guwahati, her talent is much talked about.
“As a dancer I have always valued the ability to express and connect with one’s innermost being through the medium of art. The liberation and joy of surrender in such an experience is unparalleled and is also what connects me not only to myself but also to those watching,” says Vrinda. As she continues to stretch artistic brilliance every time she takes to the stage, she adds, “My art empowers and frees me both on and off stage. It is my identity. Through it, I hope to spread love, peace and consciousness in the ensuing days of 2022.” This accomplished dancer also believes in giving back and works as a fellow at Teach for India.
She picked up the bass guitar when she was three years old, egged on by her jazz musician father. The youngest bass player in the country, Mohini Dey has recorded music for over 100 films and has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the music industry, including AR Rahman and Zakir Husain. She's a star in her own right too, with her striking appearance, marked by wild curly hair and prodigious technique, Mohini is quite unmistakable. By the age of 11, she was performing professionally and even designing her own outfits.
Described as the Most Successful Musician Under 30 by Forbes India, Mohini, now 24, has spent 16 years in the industry. It's a tough field to be in, especially as a bass player in India. More so as a woman. Dey has loved every moment of her journey, however. "I am very selective about the work I do and I have lots of fun doing it... My life has been always been adventurous and I like it that way."
Her father, Sujoy Dey, also a bass guitarist, was her first teacher. "My dad was so busy and would come home late at night. But he would wake me up, even if it was 1 am and teach me," she said. “I didn't have friends! All my friends were uncles and brothers."
Her latest offering, Damaru directed by LA-based JS Arts, was conceptualised by Suchismita, another of AR Rahman's proteges, for Maha Shivratri 2022. An up-tempo number, Damaru uses Indian vocals, hip hop and EDM and also features Grammy-award winning composer Ricky Kej as well as London-based rapper Maya Miko.
Aditi Chauhan, 29, goalkeeper of the Indian women’s football team
The goalkeeper of the Indian national team is known for her resoluteness guarding the Indian goal. Among the most talented and experienced in the final line-up, Aditi has a fervour and singlemindedness that is evident on the field. She is the first Indian woman from India’s national football women’s team to play internationally at an English premiere league club, West Ham United. She was also named Asian Footballer of the Year during her stint playing in the United Kingdom.
Chauhan moved to Delhi as a nine-year-old, and schooled at Amity International School. Always sporty, she tried her hand at many games before “the beautiful game” stole her heart. At 15, Aditi appeared on the team for the Delhi women's football team U19 squad.
The girl, who studied MSc in sports management at Loughborough University, joined English premiere league club West Ham United Ladies where she spent two to three seasons. Aditi was a part of the Indian women’s team that won the 2012 SAFF Women's Championship in Sri Lanka. She also played at the recently concluded 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup.
“Those that shoulder the biggest dreams, face the biggest challenges. Maybe this team’s biggest victory will be in overcoming this, and still going - still playing with heart, still dreaming! The blue tigresses will be back and roar louder than ever, we promise. Keep supporting,” she tweeted.
She was all of 21 when she decided to launch Humans of Bombay, a social media platform inspired by the Humans of New York page. Today, as her platform clocks in over 2.2 million followers on Instagram, it brings to life stories of grit, determination and the resilience of human nature. With tales of battling abuse, racism, and overcoming tragedy, her posts manage to touch hearts and inspire across age groups. Being able to get a hold of these stories was no easy feat for this University of Nottingham alum. Strangers would shy away from speaking to her, till she finally made her breakthrough. Today, the 29-year-old’s platform not just highlights stories, but also helps its subjects through crowdfunding campaigns.
From social media influencer to entrepreneur and author, her journey is nothing short of remarkable. And as she marches on, Karishma has also been featured in reputed international publications like Forbes. As she surges on in her mission to bring to life stories that matter and extend a helping hand along the way, Karishma posted on Instagram, “I was 21 when I founded Humans of Bombay and through these eight years, I’ve had what seems like multiple MBA courses simultaneously. But sluicing through the myriad of business, finance, and the whole shebang, the one invaluable skill we have honed, is the art of storytelling.”
(June 7, 2022) For a young seventh grader, losing seven close family members to heart ailments within a year was a traumatising experience. Her grief soon turned into a quest to discover the root cause. The findings led to a startling revelation - the lack of heart donors. The obliviousness towards organ donation as a whole prompted Seher Taneja to start Abhigyata in 2018. "When I started researching, I didn't know much about organ donation, and I realised I wasn't the only one. On digging deep, I found that for every 50,000 heart transplants needed, we don't even get 10. It shook me, and I decided to create awareness," Seher tells Global Indian. What began as a dialogue with family and friends has now turned into a movement of sorts that has reached over 10,000 people. Her first presentation was at her school (Springdales, Delhi) to "plant the seed of organ donation in young minds." The 17-year-old believes that it's important to change the mindset from a young age. Calling the problem deep-rooted, the teen changemaker says that talking about death is almost considered blasphemy. "There is so much stigma around death that it isn't easy to make people open
ar-old believes that it's important to change the mindset from a young age. Calling the problem deep-rooted, the teen changemaker says that talking about death is almost considered blasphemy. "There is so much stigma around death that it isn't easy to make people open up to the idea of organ donation," adds the Diana Award winner.
Born to a paediatrician father and an anaesthesiologist mother, Seher comes from a family of doctors. However, the tragedy that struck home led her on a mission to create awareness on organ donation. "I knew I needed to be well-read and well-versed on the topic, I couldn't misstate facts. That's when I came across a program by Dr Smita Mishra," reveals Seher who calls Mishra her mentor as she helped her understand the myths and the statistics around organ donation. "I started with high school students between 9th and 12 grade. But by 2019, I wanted to create a ripple effect, that's when I came up with a proper plan to reach out to different schools in Delhi," says the changemaker, who began building a team with an army of volunteers.
Covid-19 took Abhigyata online to a larger audience in 2020. "Our first webinar had Vasanthi Ramesh, the director of NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation), and Pallavi Kumar of MOHAN (Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network) as the speakers. The session was aimed at helping youngsters clear their doubts and also to bust myths around organ donation," says Class 12 student who also collaborated with various NGOs during that time. "With the pandemic taking a toll on mental health, the webinar was a blessing in disguise as it helped me channelise my energy into something productive," says the teenager who won the Student Leadership Award 2020 by the Indian Academy of Paediatrics.
Empowering youth during the pandemic
The initiative led her to win the Diana Award in 2021 along with the Tale of Humankind. Started in 2019 to engage and empower the youth, it has worked on 10 campaigns so far ranging from mental health to climate change to menstruation and gender equality. "We are bridging the gap between where we are and where we want to be, with the help and guidance of experts from their respective fields. We want to bring a sense of purpose in youngsters with our initiative," says Seher, who has learnt to be more empathetic in the process. The innovator adds that the years have made her more accountable for her actions toward the planet.
Innovator at heart
The social changemaker is an innovator at heart. A STEM girl, Seher has a handful of innovations to her credit including the mobile toilet - a sensor-based automated technology to improve sanitation in an eco-friendly manner. But it was SWAR - smart gloves that convert sign language into text and voice - that earned her a spot in the Top 20 at the ATL Tinkering Marathon 2019 and was later selected for Atal Incubation Centre's Student Innovator Program 3.0. Again, SWAR was conceptualised at home where she witnessed her grandfather struggling with hearing loss. "He was retreating into a shell and was uncomfortable making any conversation. To help him, I started researching more on it and found startling facts in 2018. India is home to 18 million people with hearing impairments with only 250 interpreters. Since the majority doesn't understand sign language, it creates a divide," explains Seher who wanted to bridge the gap with her prototype. "The sensors on the gloves help convert sign language into text and speech by using a smartphone," describes the teenager who has filed for the patent.
The idea didn't just impress commerce and industries minister Piyush Goyal, it also found her a place in Startup India. "I am reaching out to corporate companies. SWAR will be launched in the market soon," says an excited Seher who is moving to the University of Pennsylvania to pursue the Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology. With an aim to revolutionise the healthcare sector, she plans to launch her startup in near future. "It's time we stop blaming the people in power and become a shareholder in bringing about change," says the innovator, who loves chilling with her parents and friends.
(August 13, 2024) It was in June this year that Sunita Williams and her co-astronaut Butch Wilmore boarded Boeing's Starliner capsule for its first crewed mission. Originally slated to spend just eight days in space, they have now been stranded for over 50 days due to technical issues. Fresh reports suggest that their rescue may be delayed, potentially leaving them in space until February 2025, causing concern about their safe return, health risks and fuelled debates on the role of humanoid robots in space exploration. Amidst these discussions, students at Purdue University have taken the initiative to form the Humanoid Robot Club, becoming the first student group to build a humanoid robot designed for space missions. "When you are in space or exploring an active volcano or conducting deep-sea research, using robotics limits the loss of life in such scenarios," says Aarav Garg, the club's president. "Our biggest motivation is the idea that if something goes wrong in space, it's a robot at risk — not a human. This significantly reduces the potential for loss of life, which is one of the reason why a robot should exist in the first place." [caption id="attachment_38800" align="aligncenter" width="811"] Humanoid Robot Club[/caption] The
The 18-year-old and his friend Riddhi Gupta founded the Humanoid Robot Club in the spring session of 2024 after watching a video of Boston Dynamics, a company that builds humanoid robots. It sparked an epiphany that despite Purdue's diverse range of student clubs, none focused on humanoid robots. "Upon research, we found that there is no student club in the entire US that delves into humanoid robots. That's when we decided to launch our own since most existing efforts focus on research, but we wanted to actually build one," Aarav tells Global Indian.
Aiming for space
Their vision is ambitious — to be the first group of students to build a walking humanoid robot for space exploration. "No one else in the world is currently doing this," Aarav emphasises. Launched in March 2024, the club has already attracted over 400 members from various majors and degrees. "Ninety percent of our members are undergraduates, mostly from mechanical and electrical engineering," Aarav explains. "More than just a club, it's like a startup where students from diverse backgrounds, united by a shared enthusiasm for innovation, collaborate on building a humanoid robot."
The teenage innovator and entrepreneur, who founded a startup called TechNuttiez while still in school, has long been passionate about coding and innovation. His move to Purdue University in the US last fall felt like a natural extension of his interest in robotics. "As a freshman, I was excited to explore new opportunities. With my background in entrepreneurship and robotics from India, I quickly secured leadership positions in two different technology clubs at Purdue within just a month of starting university. During my first semester, I got exposure on how clubs operate at Purdue, which gave me a great head start," says Aarav, who ended up starting a new club at Purdue in his second semester.
Taking the legacy forward
Launching a club that gravitated towards the field of space came naturally to Aarav and his team, given Purdue's reputation as one of the best universities in aerospace in the world. "Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon, and Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon, are both alumni of Purdue University. Right now, we're the leading producer of top astronauts in the US," reveals Aarav, adding, "Each month, we have the opportunity to meet an astronaut who has been to the International Space Station, so it was only fitting that we ventured into this field."
Armed with the knowledge that humanoid robots can redefine the landscape of space exploration by offering versatility and adaptability in extraterrestrial environments, Aarav was keen to build a robot with human-like capabilities that can navigate complex terrain, manipulate tools, and interact with surroundings with agility. "They can work alongside humans too."
After spending the spring and summer semesters organising and planning, the team is eager to start building the robot in the upcoming fall semester. Having raised $95,000 in sponsorship from departments at Purdue, brands like Autodesk, Altium, and Unitree Robotics, and ten official partners, the Humanoid Robotics Club is using the fund to buy equipment for their lab. They recently signed an MOU to secure a workspace on campus at the newly opened John Martinson Lab of Entertainment and Engineering. "We'll have a dedicated space to set up our equipment, including three 3D printers, and where all the members will work. It's a small lab that we are excited to build."
[caption id="attachment_38801" align="aligncenter" width="811"] Aarav Garg and Riddhi Gupta with the head of AAE at Purdue [/caption]
Securing key support
Starting a new club at Purdue meant having the right allies, and they found the best one in Professor Yan Gu, who signed up as their primary advisor. Being the professor of mechanical engineering and head of the TRACE lab, the only lab at Purdue that works with humanoid robots, made her the perfect contender for the position. "I waited outside her office for three hours just to pitch the idea," Aarav recalls. His dedication paid off when, after their meeting, she agreed to become the faculty advisor. "We had so many sleepless nights preparing our pitches," he adds. But the club members continued to reach out to the deans of other engineering departments at Purdue, and in no time, they had seven faculty advisors onboard, a rare feat for a student club which is usually run with one-two advisors. "We have a faculty advisor from every department of engineering," beams Aarav with pride.
Building the future
This month the students will return to the university from their summer break, energised to take up the mammoth task of building the humanoid robot. "We've divided the robot's various body parts into separate projects," explains Aarav. "In our first year, we'll focus on the legs, aiming to build legs that can walk by the end of the year. Next year, we'll introduce the arms project, where some team members will work on constructing the arms while others continue refining the legs. In the third year, our focus will shift to vision systems and space-related challenges like zero gravity, making the robot autonomous so it can navigate an entire room on its own. Each year, we’ll add new projects and continue fine-tuning the existing ones."
A great deal of planning went into the project, leaving little room for error. However, the biggest challenge for Aarav has been balancing his managerial responsibilities with his passion for actually building the robot. "Juggling two different roles at once can be quite overwhelming," he admits. "But with leadership appointed in key roles, I now want to focus primarily on building the robot. We'll be working on it every day, that's my agenda for the next three years," says Aarav, who is majoring in robotics at Purdue University. "This allows me to constantly learn and apply my knowledge, which is incredibly rewarding."
[caption id="attachment_38803" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Team Humanoid Robot Club working on the humanoid robot HUBO[/caption]
Future goals - Looking to revolutionise space exploration
With his startup experience back home, Aarav brought the expertise needed to lead the club. "I'm replicating the model, but on a much larger scale," he explains. The knowledge and dedication of his team have impressed the leadership at Purdue University. "They see us as students on a mission. We don’t just operate as a club; we approach it like a startup and a research lab," Aarav says.
With only three years left at Purdue, Aarav and his team are determined to build a functional humanoid robot before they graduate. "Our goal is to have a basic walking humanoid robot completed by the spring of 2027," Aarav shares, expressing his hope that the robot will one day make its way to space. "We aim to build the robot, present it to NASA or SpaceX, and ensure that strong leadership continues the project even after we graduate. We understand this isn’t just a three-year endeavour and may require several more years. But once it's ready, we believe it will revolutionise space exploration," he signs off.
(May 24, 2023) In the realm of sports, the Telugu region has become a breeding ground for exceptional talent, producing individuals who have defied odds, shattered barriers, and etched their names in the annals of sporting history. This is a tale that celebrates the indomitable spirit and remarkable achievements of Telugu sports stars. Through their dedication, perseverance, and unwavering determination, these individuals have become beacons of inspiration, captivating the hearts and minds of millions across the nation. Global Indian explores the journeys of badminton champs Gayatri Gopichand and Satwik Rankireddy, boxer Nikhat Zareen, who has carved herself a place in history, athlete Jyothi Yarraji who battled great odds to rise to break the national record and the decorated young US-golfer Sahith Theegala, who copes with scoliosis but never lets it hamper his game. Nikhat Zareen [caption id="attachment_30395" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Nikhat Zareen[/caption] "Who is Nikhat Zareen?" The Olympian's dismissive response to the then 22-year-old Zareen cut the young boxer quite deeply. Zareen was already a Youth World Champion and wanted the Indian Boxing Federation to conduct trials for the Olympic team selections. Kom, who was looking forward to what would likely be her final rendezvous with the Olympics, was not happy,
o the then 22-year-old Zareen cut the young boxer quite deeply. Zareen was already a Youth World Champion and wanted the Indian Boxing Federation to conduct trials for the Olympic team selections. Kom, who was looking forward to what would likely be her final rendezvous with the Olympics, was not happy, snubbing Zareen for her request. Still, Zareen refused to show weakness. She had always been used to fighting great odds - she is from Telangana, a region without a boxing culture unlike Manipur or Haryana. She was also a Muslim - female Muslim boxers don't come around too often in India.
Today, Nikhat Zareen is a two-time world champion, the winner of the gold at the 2011 AIBA Women's Youth & Junior World Boxing Championships, the 2022 Istanbul and 2023 New Delhi IBA Women's World Boxing Championships. She also bagged the gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Born on June 14, 1996 to Mohammad Jameel Ahmed and Parveen Sultana in Nizamabad, Zareen studied at Nirmala Hrudaya Girls' High School. It was her father, Jameel, who introduced her to boxing and trained her for a year. "It's true that not everyone in the neigbourhood or even the family were supportive. They would say it is wrong and it would spoil her marriage prospects. But I never let Nikhat worry about these things. I wanted her to do her best. People always talk. If you stop and listen to what everyone has to say, you won't go very far," Jameel said.
As she progressed, there weren't too many girl competitors at her level, and she would go up against older boys. She moved ahead rapidly and at 14, won her first international gold at the Youth World Championships.
Nikhat Zareen is proud of her roots and her faith, performing a sajdah at the New Delhi World Championships and saying that she would use her prize money to send her parents on the Haj pilgrimage. "I come from a middle class family. I come from a minority community where girls don't always get the opportunity to take up sports. Boxing has given me freedom," Zareen said.
In 2018, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy stormed their way to a historic victory at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, bagging a gold at the Mixed Team event and the men's double silver. That year, they also won top honours in the Hyderabad Open BWF Tour Super 100 tournament, beating their Akbar Bintang and Reza Pahlevi Isfahani from Indonesia.
Rankireddy was born in Amalapuram, Andhra Pradesh, into a family legacy. His father was a state-level player, as was his older brother, both of whom inspired him to begin playing. In 2014, he enrolled at the Pullela Gopichand Academy and became a doubles specialist. In 2016, his coach, Kim Tan Her paired him with Chirag Shetty, creating a winning team.
The duo has won five international series titles. Rankireddy also has a strong partnership with Ashwini Ponnappa in the mixed doubles category. They began 2022 by winning the Indian Open and were part of India's Thomas Cup team, a victory achieved through great determination, as they started out by losing the first game.
Rankireddy was given the Arjuna Award for badminton in August 2020.
From the moment she decided on a career in badminton, Gayatri Gopichand had very big shoes to fill. Both her parents are renowned shuttlers - her father, Pullela Gopichand won the England Open Badminton Championships in 2001, the second Indian after Prakash Padukone. Her mother, P.V.V. Lakshmi, is an eight-time Indian national Telugu champion and an Olympian who represented India at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She also won the bronze at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
Gayatri entered the fray with the best kind of backing, including being able to enroll at her parents' state-of-the-art academy, the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy. She was initiated early and had the chance to observe and even train with India's reigning champs like Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu.
By the age of 15, Gayatri had an all-India ranking of No. 1 in the under-17 age group in India. In 2018, she became the youngest member to be part of an Indian Asian Games badminton contingent and went with them to the Jakarta 2018 Asian Games, although she didn't actually get any game-time that year.
Until the pandemic, Gayatri had trained as a singles player. In 2021, however, acting on the advice of her father and coach, Arun Vishnu, she tried the doubles game, teaming up with Treesa Jolly. "When the coaches saw our game styles, they thought that putting us together was the best," Gayatri told The Hindu. That year, they became runners-up at the Polish International and their star only rose from there, as they reached the Syed Modi International final in 2022 and bagged the BWF World Tour Title.
"Now, I feel I can play anyone. Off Court, they are all legends and all but on court, everyone is equal and you just have to give your best," Gayatri said.
Jyothi was in class 10 when she took her first strides towards being an athlete. She had no idea how she would go about it, either. It was a late start and a far-fetched idea for a poor girl in Vishakapatnam. "My father is a security guard and my mother is a cleaner in hospitals. I'd always been told the path to come out of that was through studies." In class 10, encouraged by her P.E teacher, she decided to give it a go.
She started out with a pair of inexpensive jogging shoes (spikes were out of the question) and just a few months into formal training, won a gold in the state-level 100m. "I used to feel good when I started running. It made me feel like I didn't have time to waste. It made me feel that I was doing something important," Jyothi said. Still, her decision was looked upon with great disapproval. The neighbours raised their eyebrows because she was "being sent to run outside. Why is she running in knickers and a banian? Why is she talking to boys," they would ask. Her mother stood by her.
Today, the Telugu champion hurdler holds the national record of 13.04 seconds, which she broke three times in 2022. She also represented India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and at the Indian National Games that year, won the gold in the 100-metres and the 100-metres hurdles. In October, Jyothi became the first Indian woman hurdler to clock below 13 seconds. She did even better in 2023, breaking the national record for the 60-metres hurdle five times. She also won the Silver in the 2023 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships at Astana.
Only two weeks ago, in May 2023, Sahith Theegala made headlines for a superb left-handed shot at the Wells Fargo Championship at the 16th hole. It was a perfect shot and the audience roared its approval, more so because Sahith Theegala is not left-handed. "Absolutely fantastic," the commentators said and even Theegala's caddie was impressed.
The US-based golfer, who hails from Hyderabad, has had a strong year, making his presence felt on the PGA Tour as he rose from outside 300 to 30 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Theegala had always loved the sport, even as a child, and even though he suffers from scoliosis (a curvature of the spine). A the age of five and six, he would cry when it was time to leave the golf course. At the age of six, he won the Junior World Championship and went to study at Pepperdine University, known for its sports teams. In January 2020, he won the Haskins Award, the Ben Hogan Award and the Jack Niklaus Award, becoming the fifth player in the history of US golf to win all three Player of the Year honours.
Members of the Nai Subah Foundation[/caption]
Seher Taneja[/caption]
Aarav Garg and Riddhi Gupta with the head of AAE at Purdue [/caption]
Team Humanoid Robot Club working on the humanoid robot HUBO[/caption]
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy[/caption]
Gayatri Gopichand[/caption]
Jyothi Yarraji[/caption]
Sahith Theegala[/caption]