Talent tempers: MAI looks for and finds geniuses
The utterance of the great Soviet writer Maksim Gorkiy that “sometimes it’s useful to learn from children” suddenly comes to mind in a spacious class of the Youth Center for Scientific and Technical Creativity “Na Donskoy”. Here it’s easy to meet a young genius able to design and implement in hardware flying, driving, walking, and even diving drone due to a robotic workshop where predominantly students and workers of Moscow aviation institute (National Research Universe) have classes. Here the talented guys are trained to become real inventors.
Several times a week boys and girls of different ages from different schools and districts of Moscow come in a workshop situated in MAI that is headed by chief of the Center for Technology Support of Education, chairman of the scientific-research work of students MAI Council, assistant professor of MAI Vitaly Polaynsky. He has also attracted his colleagues to work with young talents – graduates and students of MAI – Pavel Yuharin, Gleb Boyarsky, Vadim Danilov, Mikhail Kalinin and others.
MAI representatives teach digital design and manufacturing, how to assemble and pilot copters, they consult children with projects, prepare to competitions, engineering contests and conferences.
There is a particular approach to each student. All conversations are serious. However there are fatherly love and pride in the eyes of scientific supervisor and mentor Vitaly Polaynsky. He can really be proud of his little students.
Marvel fish robot
My interlocutor is a sixth grade pupil of the Lyceum № 1580 Lev Yuvensky. At first sight he is so laconic and shy, but the nature of real inventor takes him over. The boy masterfully presents his own submersible drone. Quite recently, the first prototype of this development won the cup in engineering contest in Kazan.
– Submersible drone is intended for monitoring surfaces of bottom and hydraulic structures. It’s be useful for emergency forces during rescue operations, - said Lev Yvenski. He brought frame of the drone on a lesson. He explains that there is no equipment on it as yet – cameras, sensors, computation systems, but all of it will be soon. Control circuit will be built on the «Arduino Due» hardware platform. Just it should «distribute» signals to the propulsion. Besides this, camera will be connected with integrated circuit to could the drone determine necessary squares on the bottom.
All of expensive elements of the equipment will be hidden into a special watertight case in order to save it.
The boy has always had a dream “to build a diver-drone”. But Lev started creating his submarine drone relatively recently.
He came to the workshop only in September with a sketch of a future bathyscaphe. Right here the project was brought to mind; he was provided with details and calculations.
Together with Vitaly Victrovich we resorted MAI and sawed out the details for assemble submarine drone on a specialized submersible – said Lev Yvenski. Drone’s frame was made from textolite and composite metal-plastic handmade shapes.
According to Vitaly Polaynski, a sheet is cut out from composite and folding parts are milling to get whole box-shape construction. This absolutely self-sustained work – Lev put bushes himself in the model, elements of fastener, he designed all of this himself too – notes Vitaly Polaynsky.
Drone races and robot-transformer.
Drones are the true passion of another member of MAI robotic workshop– 14 year-old pupil from lyceum № 1553 Genady Fomin. During our dialogue he almost does not look away from his brilliant quadrocopter. Gena says, carefully tighting up a screw:
I think about a model of monocoque for the drone lately. This is solid shell that contains all of electronic. I think that in following time it will be able to create special monocoque with opportunity to replace controller, which regulate propulsion process, set speed of rotate propellers and process incoming signals.
Gennady’s mentors are undergraduate (PhD) of Aerospace faculty of MAI Gleb Boayrsky and a student of the faculty “Robotic and intellectual systems” Pavel Yhanin. Several times a week guys “fly” their drones in acting hall or in the backyard of “Na Donskoy”. If the weather is fine they do it on the territory of MAI. Free time Gleb and Pavel spend teaching Gena and his colleagues from “flying drones” to design and manufacture frames for drones, to dispose and commutate electronics and to tune propulsions and transceiver equipping.
Gena is boasting about his newly acquired special spectacles for remote flight control quadrocopter.
– I had been mowing the lawns for the whole summer to earn some money and to buy them. But it’s worth it, - a guy smiles carefully taking the spectacles away into a special case.
Gena got so obsessed by drones that he even set aside his project of creating jumping robot working by compressed air. However according to his worlds he will surely returns to this project later.
Gena’s colleague – a pupil of school № 120 Michael Kuznetcov has a project of quadrocopter that could ride and fly.
Misha is very modest and quietly say that he is designing … drone-transformer! Due to unusual construction drone could fly and drive. He shows me a wheel of his future invention that was milled from fiber-glass plastic in MAI.
we put the engines and blades on his robot – notices Vitaly Polaynski, supporting his taciturn and very humble schoolboy. – We will make centering wheels with propellers soon.
Who are you, Mr. Crawler?
One of the students of the robotic workshop, pupil of lyceum № 1799 Sergey Derevaynkin couldn’t be attend the presentation of the colleagues.
However his mentor – Vadim Danilov, a graduate of MAI (cathedra 702) – brought this unusual robot on the lesson. He shows it to the guys who gathered around a fancy invention.
The development of the robot riding tracks and able to climb the stairs belongs to apprentice of the graduate of cathedra 702 Vadim Danilov.
A usual tracked platform is not able to overcome obstacles such as stairs, - Vadim Danilov said. But this robot due to its ability to stand up on "feet" can overcome any obstacle.
This is the second modification of the crawler. The first was made of Lego NXT. In the development of the second version of the robot we decided to keep only the track and kinematics of the chassis. Everything else was designed and manufactured in MAI with the use of 3D-printer and laser milling and CNC machines.
This machine is in work for two years, - Vadim Danilov said. - Modification work is carried out continuously. We strive to significantly reduce weight and due to this increase the speed and maneuverability. Furthermore, there is improvement of the software components and selection sensors.
Nikita Kupriyanov – a sixth grader of gymnasium 1257 develop another crawler robot in robotic workshop.
His invention doesn’t climb the stairs, but it has small dimensions and 360-view camera.
The robot can shoot in places inaccessible to humans. It can be used for many Special Forces, - said Nikita Kupriyanov. - Robot platform was made of a composite and chassis parts of aluminum with inserts of plywood. In addition, the device is supposed to support the ring for the camera Go-Pro. It can rotate 360 degrees, revolve up and down, and the camera allows you to shoot high-definition picture. Due to this, no area will be poorly explored.
According to Nikita, the first model of the future robot was designed in the SolidWorks software, then transferred to CorelDraw and then set off for the manufacturing. A MAI laboratory has also become a birthplace of the robot.
Talent time
A lot of talented young engineers graduated robotics workshop in the center "Na Donskoy". A ninth grade student Artem Vasyunyk is well known in MAI. The Fellow is working on building a flying car "Avtolet" with a cabin for two pilots. His work is rapidly progressing, and Artem became the hero of numerous engineering competitions and major media broadcasts. The boy wants to enter MAI and to continue developing his flying car.
We are confident that we will hear about young talents of the robotic workshop in future. The guys will face a lot of work on their inventions, competitions and Olympiads. But Moscow Aviation Institute with its students and teachers will make this difficult path to the top easier. They generously share their knowledge, skills and competencies with gifted students.
MAI has become one of the partners of the National Technology Initiative on AERONET direction - unmanned aircraft and space systems, integrated solutions and services. In addition, the university acts as an ideologist and supervisor of AERONET at STI Olympiad for schoolchildren.
