in Norilsk, they launched unique courses on underwater robotics based on Fablab / Society news of Krasnoyarsk and the Krasnoyarsk Territory / Newslab.Ru
In Norilsk, schoolchildren are learning to control underwater drones with the support of city authorities and Norilsk Nickel.
The FabLab engineering laboratory for Norilsk residents of all ages has long been known for its innovative projects. One of them, “Crazy Upgrade,” attracted the attention of City Council Chairman Alexander Pestryakov last year.
The essence of the initiative, which received funding from Nornickel’s charitable program “World of New Opportunities” (currently “People of the Territory”): to train Norilsk schoolchildren to control unmanned aerial vehicles and underwater drones.
Pestryakov, who has been fascinated by new technologies since childhood, decided to contribute to the project and donated his underwater drone equipped with a high-frequency camera to the FabLab team for temporary use. The day before, the speaker visited the city swimming pool, where practical classes are being held for project participants.
“When I met the Fablab employees and saw their passion for flying UAVs and their desire to teach this to children, I suggested that they also teach the children how to pilot underwater drones. I gave them my personal one so that the project participants could consolidate their theoretical knowledge in practice. In addition, the FabLab team promised to teach me how to operate my drone, because I didn’t have enough time for that. I consider such projects not just an interesting activity for schoolchildren, but also a solid foundation for children to acquire a profession in the future. After all, modern technologies have firmly entered our lives and are now used in all areas,” noted Alexander Pestryakov.
As part of the “Mad Upgrade” project, seven Fablab specialists improved their skills in underwater robotics and UAV piloting and operation. As a result of this, courses for Norilsk schoolchildren appeared. In addition to theoretical classes, where the guys were engaged, among other things, in programming microcontrollers, we managed to come to an agreement with the management of the pool so that the project participants could practice the material they had learned on controlling underwater drones.
“This is a unique project, in my opinion, because in Norilsk there are practically no specialists in training to control aerial and underwater drones. And we managed, first of all, to improve our skills, exchange experience with qualified specialists, and study technological innovations. After that, we actually started training the guys during theoretical and practical classes,” said Elena Tader, head of the “Mad Upgrade” project.
Modern technologies, which include UAVs and underwater drones, have long been used in Norilsk Nickel’s production processes, emphasized Tatyana Dyakova, chief specialist of the Social Capital and Charity Development Department of the Company’s Polar Branch. Therefore, the “Crazy Upgrade” project was supported by a grant in the amount of 1.5 million rubles:
“The project is not just the development of leisure activities for children, it is, first of all, the acquisition of some new skills and knowledge. In fact, this can be called career guidance classes: the ability to not just pilot aircraft, but to truly understand the principles of their operation is a direct path to an engineering profession. Such primary knowledge can be used in the future by children both in everyday life and on their professional path. And, of course, Norilsk Nickel, which uses modern technologies in production, could not help but support such a high-tech and useful project,” she noted.
During the “Mad Upgrade”, fablab members were able to teach the basics of controlling UAVs and underwater drones to 6 schoolchildren aged 10-12 years. However, the implementation of this direction will not stop with the completion of the project. According to Fablab employees, similar courses will be reopened on the basis of the engineering laboratory, but with the support of the Our Norilsk endowment fund.
