"Be willing to put in the time. Designing and building a robot takes effort, but the experience is incredibly rewarding." quips Declan as he tinkers with his robots and ponders what's next in his robotics pursuit.
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00:00Well, I enjoy going to coding lessons.
00:06This is the one thing that he really is passionate about.
00:09Hi, my name is Declan and I do robotics.
00:13I've made a bunch of different projects like a walking robot and a sorting robot, among
00:20others.
00:21So I was four years old when I first went to the boot camp, which my parents signed
00:27And that's just kind of what fueled my desire to start doing coding, because I found it
00:34extremely intriguing and fun.
00:39I recently went to the WRL competition in Turkey.
00:43Me and my friends stumbled upon the website, and as such, we decided to take part and then
00:49brainstorm ideas.
00:50Eventually, we decided on the sorting bin.
00:54So how the machine works is it has an AI camera, it scans the bottles which are placed
01:00inside the chamber, and it sorts it based on what it looks like.
01:04There's also a weight sensor at the bottom to detect whether or not the object has liquid
01:10or other things inside, and based on that, it'll decide whether it's contaminated or
01:15recyclable or e-waste.
01:20This robot here is a walking robot.
01:23It could detect obstacles and change direction if there was something in front of it.
01:27So I think for this robot, I hope to maybe waterproof it, to allow it to be able to explore
01:35underwater and on land.
01:37So I hope to be able to build robots that can help us explore the parts of the earth
01:43where it's hard to reach.
01:45I think, yes, I am naturally inclined towards robotics, but I also think that anyone can
01:54pick up robotics, because while it's similar to academics, there's really this part of
02:01you just creating new things, which is not part of the curriculum.
02:07I think robotics is something that he developed a passion for himself, and therefore I think
02:11it brings quite a lot of joy.
02:12I think one of the things that actually we find that robotics has really helped him grow
02:16is he's actually learned to, I think, persevere in what he does.
02:20When he was young, he did a lot of building Tamiya cars and a lot of Lego building with
02:25my husband.
02:26Because I think I noticed that even within the robotics world, his favourite is actually
02:30the building part.
02:31Does Neklin spend all his time coding?
02:33He doesn't actually.
02:34He's outdoors a lot.
02:36On the weekends, as a family, we make an effort either to go out to the beach or to go hiking.
02:42We try and find different trails all over Singapore.
02:45Our holidays are also very centred around being outdoors, so I would say he definitely
02:49doesn't spend all his time coding.
02:51The thing about robotics is that it's very time-consuming, and when you're designing,
02:57you also have to be able to multitask, because there's wiring, there's programming, and there's
03:02building where the robot can easily fall apart if just one of them has minor issues.
03:09What advice do you have for those who also want to go into robotics like you did?
03:13I think that they need to know the commitment that comes with robotics.
03:17You have to be willing to put in the time to develop the robot, because it really takes
03:22a lot of time to design and build a robot.
03:26I've considered not doing robotics once or twice in the last 10 years, especially for
03:31Primary 6, PSLE.
03:33In the end, I am glad I didn't, because it's allowed me to achieve so many different things,
03:39like winning the competition, and it just kind of inspires me.
03:45If he were to develop this into a career, I think it would be more than supportive.
03:48I think it's important for him to do something that he's passionate about, something that
03:51he would look forward to going to work every day, and that would be nice, right?
03:56So it's quite a good experience for me, and it's quite encouraging, and I think that's
04:01what kept me coming back.