[Exclusive Interview] This Ed-Tech Startup Is Igniting A Revolution With New Age Pedagogy Style Learning

Established in 2015 by Two Friends Rajeev Tiwari & Anurag Gupta, Stemrobo is an Ed-tech startup which is endeavoring to change the long standing traditional education system in India through its pedagogy style aligned with the needs of the digital age. Till date they have established more than 1500 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in Schools across India and have enrolled more than a million users on its platforms.

With around 200 innovative engineers it is one of the fastest growing Ed-tech Companies in India which train & encourage the K-12 segment in AI, ML, Robotics so that they emerge as an innovator, creator & a problem solver.

We recently interacted with Mr. Rajeev Tiwari, Co-Founder of STEMROBO Technologies, and asked questions about their future expansion plans, and their mission.

Here are the highlights:

Q – 1. How is STEMROBO nurturing the 21st century skills of the K-12 segment in India?

We launched STEMROBO Technologies, an ed-tech start-up, in 2015 with the goal of assisting K-12 kids in adapting to STEM education and further enabling their minds to better learn and develop. With the advent of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, augmented reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT), the scope for STEM education and its relevance has expanded, as India is currently one of the technologically borrowing countries rather than a technologically independent/lending country. Today, Traditionally built schools have an extensive technical gap that must be filled through a variety of activities and interventions in the school system in order to provide the youth with technological fluency. Our courses and programs will help to change the global innovation landscape. We use technology in K-12 education, focusing on unique robotics, coding, IoT, and AI techniques for students. We are also pushing self-paced experiential learning through STEAM-based DIY kits and supporting after-school programs and have been establishing Atal Tinkering Labs in schools as a part of the Niti aayog’s flagship initiative Atal Innovation Mission.  

Our mission is to provide a platform for students all over the world to use learning and innovative technologies in STEM education. Block-based programming, App development, AI, Python, 3D designing, Arduino programming, and fun with electronics are among our six primary innovations. STEMROBO Technologies’ purpose and focus are to use methodologies and project-based learning to tackle real-world problems while offering an immersive learning experience that caters to vital 21st-century skills.  With the government’s goal of becoming India Atmanirbhar, we take pride in being a 100% ‘Make in India’ company.

Q – 2. How many ATL labs have you set up in India & how are you promoting the culture of innovation & entrepreneurship among students?

Our plan is to revolutionize the education landscape in India with the help of technology. We believe in motivating and encouraging students by providing them with strategic technologies that can lead to inventions and the development of the country. To ensure that India’s prosperity becomes entirely self-reliant, we believe that students’ culture should move from active listeners to active makers. We’ve set up Tinkering and Innovation laboratories in over 1500+ schools, enrolled over 10,00,000 children, built over 30 activity centers, and developed over ten robotics and DIY in-house products so far. During the epidemic, our workers maintained their bravery by converting face-to-face training to online training. We changed our strategy from B2B to B2B2C, giving students access to experiential learning as well as all other services in one place. We made several courses available to students via apps, WhatsApp, videos, and webinars, all of which were mobile-friendly and have been providing solutions that focus on leveraging technology in education while also acting as a catalyst for students to learn and innovate in the fields of STEAM, robotics, IoT, and AI.

We are currently concentrating our efforts on developing and manufacturing novel electrical gadgets, software, and procedures for India’s K-12 market. At STEMROBO, we intend to instill curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young brains, as well as abilities like design thinking, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing, and more through blended learning, 3D and DIY kits, and AI-based experiential and interactive learning our endeavor is to provide an unrivaled experience to the students. 

Q – 3 What’s your take on the future of the Ed-tech industry ahead?

Many edtech businesses have emerged since 2020, promising to deliver unrivaled learning management resources, such as blended learning, 3D and DIY kits, and AI-based immersive and interactive learning. The education industry, like any other, has undergone an internet transition following COVID. However, the online education market is expected to rise by 11.6 billion by 2026. This demonstrates that the EdTech revolution is not a passing fad, but rather a long-term answer. The edu-tech or ed-tech business is now thriving as all educational institutions, large and small, take a hybrid approach to learning. All inventions are born from a need and the need of the hour is to bridge the learning loss & is to adopt tech-based education, in order to move ahead and keep up with the global trends. 

Q – 4 AI is projected to be the next market. How is AI contributing to the making of your products and services?

The promise of AI is particularly obvious in Ed-tech, which has experienced a sea change and pushed the future forward during the previous years. Rather than replacing the human brain and innovation, we regard artificial intelligence as a supplementary tool. Although artificial intelligence is currently incapable of doing common-sense tasks in the real world, it is capable of digesting and interpreting massive amounts of data significantly faster than the human brain. The artificial intelligence program can then provide us with synthesized action. In this manner, artificial intelligence assists us in the game-playing of potential outcomes of each action and streamlining the decision-making process. We utilize AI to collect data on how kids learn a language and frequent errors among users who share the same mother tongue, as well as to uncover trends in how knowledge is remembered.

Q – 5 How has been your journey in the Ed-tech industry and what is the core technology that you are currently working on?

Our first meeting occurred in 2009, while we were both working for one of the major Technology and Electronic organizations. We used to sit at desks and talk about how we both wanted to create our own businesses in the field of education technology. Rajeev had a commanding knowledge of technology and finance, but I had a strong desire to work in technology and education. We both had 20 years of experience in our respective areas and wanted to make a genuine difference in society for K-12 children through STEM, STEAM, Robotics, IoT, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), allowing them to study in a way that we never did in our time. We went to universities, schools, and had webinars back then, and we understood that every kid needs STEM and robotic education since they are missing in technical education, and this is the future. We noticed an issue and a large gap in the industry and decided to start STEMROBO Technologies. So, in 2015, we both launched our businesses with the idea of a Make in India philosophy.

We both intended to create something new in the education sphere, namely in the edtech sector. We both observed foreign nations that were technologically sophisticated. The reason for this is that those countries have traditionally placed a higher value on K-12 education than on anything else. It’s why little countries like Finland and the Netherlands gave birth to world-famous corporations like Nokia and Philips. This would not have been conceivable if these countries had not prioritized basic education.

In India, however, the notion of creating new brands or items was non-existent. Seeing the consumer attitude of Indians, we intended to disrupt the education industry by developing STEMROBO Technologies in 2015, focusing entirely on basic education from K-12.

Q – 6 How STEMROBO’S platforms  AI connects and Tinker Learning are shifting the whole education culture of K-12 in India?

AI Connect is a one-of-a-kind and comprehensive Cloud-based software platform where students may practice block-based coding in Python for free. Using this curriculum, tinkerers will be able to do Data Analytics, Python, Computer Vision, Coding, Machine Learning, Algorithms, creating Robots, Games, but it also aids in the development of artificial intelligence abilities that can address day-to-day real-life problems. The AI Connect Platform has been chosen for the NITI Aayog and NASSCOM’s ‘AI Step-Up Module’ program. The module will be the next stage in introducing AI into Indian classrooms, with platforms like ‘AI connect’ assisting in driving free AI and innovation education across the country.

Tinker Learning is a content-based platform where students can learn Python, Coding, AI, ML, Animation etc.Through Tinker Learning, STEMROBO Technologies plans to shift the whole education culture of K-12 from ‘active listeners’ to ‘active makers’. The platform would provide every student with an immersive learning experience through strategic technology, project based learning and helping them to solve real-world problems that matter

Q – 7 What is your road map for the International Market?

STEMROBO is primed for rapid expansion both in India and internationally. We are also forming global alliances and growing into overseas markets. Taking all of this into consideration, we have set a 500 X 50 aim for the next five years, with a revenue of 500 crores and a product reach of 50 nations.