Mumbai: The Samsung CSR Awards presented the Principal Engineer of Samsung Electronics R&D Institute in the UK, Rohit Ail as a winner for his leadership and development of micro:bit in November.
Volunteering his talent, Ail has been vital in providing expertise for micro:bit in efforts to promote the future of coding. In close collaboration with the BBC, which reaches 98 percent of the population in UK, micro:bit is a pocket-size, code-able computer that has been developed and is being distributed to one million children in the UK, free of charge. The vision is to inspire digital creativity and develop a new generation of tech pioneers. Each element of micro:bit is completely programmable via easy-to-use software on a dedicated website (microbit.co.uk) that can be accessed via PC, tablet or mobile.
Created in direct response to the growing digital divide and emerging ICT skills gap in the UK, micro:bit would not have been possible without Ail’s enthusiasm, passion and technological expertise. Ail had recruited a team of seven engineers to volunteer, who have contributed over 1,000 hours of time. His team developed functions to enable a user to control their smartphones and tablets via coding on micro:bit and vice versa. Coding on micro:bit can launch mobile device cameras remotely, or act as a remote control to play music on devices.
The functions of micro:bit will help children understand the concept of IoT (Internet of Things) and develop their own projects in the future. Ail and the volunteer team also helped in developing teaching resources for use at schools and at home with parents. The project has been championed by UK government ministers leading the digital economy agenda and endorsed by key educational organizations and celebrity ambassadors.
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