Orange Electric Company educates students on robotics

Being the first of its kind in such projects, Orange Electric recently took the initiative in educating the youngsters of six at Northwood Global College Cotta Road Borella. A group of Sri Lankan students, aged between six and 12, are now learning how to make robots, a highly advanced technology that is sweeping throughout the world.

Orange Electric Managing Director Kushan Kodituwakku said: “We at Orange Electric saw a need to teach robotics to our children as most curriculums are seeping in theory and leaves no room for understanding science from a practical point of view. What is robotics? It is targeted mainly at the student who would ultimately become an engineer of sorts, and is basically stemming from the idea of teaching concepts and logic away from the textbook.”

He also added that, “We need to teach children that the highest level of wisdom comes from one’s own experiences rather than reading or hearing about it.”

Orange Electric has a very robust research and development division, and has now taken up teaching robotics to students of Northwood Global College, Sri Lanka’s first corporate sponsored school that began under the patronage of a group of old boys of D.S. Senanayake College, to inspire values to children.

Northwood Global College Principal Kumari Wickremasinghe says the initiative to conduct lessons on robotics comes in tandem with the objectives behind creating the school, “Our College is the first ‘corporate international school’ in Sri Lanka. It is administered by a board of directors most of whom were students of D.S. Senanayake College during the tenure of its former Principal R.I.T. Alles.

“We did not want to create just another international school. We wanted to give a value to the system and inculcate good qualities and good values among students. This is actually what our directors inherited from R.I.T. Alles. It is in this context that the school started conducting lessons of robotics for young students.”

Orange Electric’s Head Manoj Illangasooriya innovation centre conducts robotics lessons every Saturday. Manoj said “Robotics is not only about making robots it also offers children various opportunities for the future. When they study robotics, they not only learn about all the aspects of electronics including the exposure to motors, wires, batteries, to magnets, power supplies, to transistors and resisters, but also get them to think out of the boss allowing them to bring out their creative genius. This is the most important outcome of these lessons.”

In addition to Manoj, Research and Development Engineer Indika Kulathunga who is also an old boy of D.S. Senanayake College takes up the lesson alternatively. Manoj explains as the course progresses, students will learn more in-depth matters from fundamentals of electronics, to programming of robots by writing codes.

So how does Orange identify with a program that really does not seem to connect with their mainline business?  Orange Electric Managing Director Kodituwakku explained that: “If you look at us from the point of view of a product selling and manufacturing company, this project does seem a little off the track, but Orange Electric as an indigenous national technology company, it is our duty. 

“We are a 100% Sri Lankan company manufacturing for Sri Lankan and international markets. It is from our nationality that we draw our identity. When you look at it from this point of view of identifying with the needs of the next generation of our country and it becomes an important sustainability project not just for us but also for the country and the communities at large.”

Commenting on the scope of operations in the innovations division of Orange, Illangasooriya adds that it constitutes the core of research and development of Orange Electric. “Apart from conducting lectures on robotics for children, we are the hub for innovation at Orange Electric. It always gives us an edge over our competitors and we have so far designed more than 200 new products for brand Orange and no other competitor in Sri Lanka has a robust Research and Development mechanism of this nature.” 

The research and development division of Orange Electric has various sections internally to look into the needs of the market and its customers. “After identifying their needs, we explore the feasibility and embark on the designing process,” Illangasooriya added.

Another important aspect of Orange is the role it plays to identify the needs of various export markets. “Each export market has its own unique requirements. For instance, the products we design for Singapore, sometimes is entirely different to that of the needs of Pakistan. Therefore, we, have to design and make new products to enter into each market customizing our products,” Illangasooriya stated.