Goafest 2019: A 16-year old's efforts to make the world a safe place

Sixteen-year-old Harshwardhansinh Zala, the founder and CEO of Aerobotics 7 left Goafest 2019 post a standing ovation after his pledge of making the world a safer place.

 

Like many nine-year-olds, Zala was staring at his fan and feeling lazy to get up and turn it on. What transpired after that is a journey that sets him aside.

 

Zala created a TV remote that could be used to wirelessly switch on appliances in his house. Since then, in his seven-year ‘career’, he has gone on to create 41 other projects and eight robots. The robots could be used to do useful stuff like cleaning in the household, but he wanted to do something bigger.

 

He saw a video of soldiers looking at landmines. The video showed one such landmine explode and injure soldiers. This made him think and look for landmine detectors beyond the ones that just detect metal explosives. 

 

Explaining his journey, Zala said, “I approached many companies and proposed the idea of creating something to remove this problem. I was told that many bigger scientists have failed and also told to finish my education before thinking of something as big as this.”

 

This prompted him to start his own company. The idea was to get rid of the 110 million landmines that are active in the world. Currently, US$ 33 billion dollars are needed for it and there’s a risk of life.

 

Zala has been working on a drone to detect these landmines and explosives.

 

“The first prototype I created was a failure. I failed 18 times before creating the second prototype which was a success. I then created my third and fourth prototype which gained recognition. Now, we are at the sixth generation and we have shocked people when we have presented it. Our project has got the International Peace Award and several others.”

 

Zala ended his session with a piece of advice:

 

“Many people ask me how I did this and why couldn’t they think of this. The only thing I tell people is that many people thought it was impossible to create it, but the reality is that nothing is impossible. If you have the passion and determination, you can achieve a lot. I don’t see a failure as a failure. I see it as an opportunity to grow. The more the failures, the more the success at the end. I want to make the world a safe place.”