Ahmedabad-based hi-tech innovator Harshwardhan Zala (14) is the latest teen wonder to join the growing tribe of teenage social entrepreneurs countrywide. Founder-CEO of Aerobotics7 Tech Solutions Llp (estb.2016), this young prodigy recently inked a Rs.5 crore memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government’s department of science and technology. The MoU was signed at the 8th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2017 staged in the textiles city between January 9-13. Harshwardhan’s Eagle A7 smart drone is designed to detect and defuse landmines in hostile terrain. 

A class X student of the state board-affiliated Sarvodaya Vidhyamandir in suburban Ahmedabad, Harshwardhan Zala started frequenting a local cyber cafe to learn English — taught in state-board schools only after class VI — on the Internet. “Once I learned English, it was easy to pick up programming and coding skills by accessing open source technology software,” says Harshwardhan, the only child of Pradyumansinh Zala, an accountant, and homemaker Nishaba. Thus far, this young inventor has designed and built 16 robots and eight drones.

According to this budding tech whiz, the Eagle A7 smart drone which attracted huge interest at the summit, is equipped with infrared sensors, a thermal meter, a 21-megapixel camera and a bomb. “It is designed to generate oscillatory waves covering an eight sq. metre area while flying two feet above the ground. The waves help detect landmines, while a controlling base station using exact location data transmitted by the drone, drops the bomb on the landmine, exploding it,” he explains. A television documentary depicting Indian soldiers suffering grave injuries from landmines prompted Harshwardhan to conceptualise the Eagle A7 in August 2015. 

Presently focused on preparing for his class X board examinations scheduled for this month, Harshwardhan has received an invitationfrom the globally top-ranked Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Boston, to enroll in its electronics engineering degree and research programmes. “Right now, my top priority is to raise funding for my company to take forward my mission of solving the world’s toughest challenges through smart solutions,” says this inspiring teen and walking-talking advertisement of the power of self-learning.

Paromita Sengupta (Bangalore)