About us

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Robominds was founded by Prakalpa and Chris Bastianpillai in 2013 to promote the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Design (STEM-D), and nurture innovation and creativity through the latest in robotics educational technology.

Our Vision

To be recognized as a global leader in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Design (STEM-D) education and skill development.

Our Journey





Founders

Prakalpa Bastianpillai
Prakalpa Bastianpillai has a BS in Electronics and Telecommunications from the Cummins College of Engineering, Pune and an MS in Electronic Engineering from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Indiana, USA. She has nearly two decades of experience in the USA, working for multi-national corporations such as Cummins, Daimler-Chrysler, Microsoft, PerkinElmer, Solectron, and Sanmina, specializing in product development, manufacture, and project management. In 2010 she decided to leave the corporate world and become an entrepreneur, establishing several business ventures in the USA and India. Prakalpa has been actively involved in coaching, mentoring and consulting throughout her career. She has been a mentor and coach for FIRST-Robotics since her college days and has also judged several scientific and technical competitions in the USA and India. She was a Volunteer and Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) - Oregon Chapter, and a motivational speaker at Universities and Colleges. Through the establishment of Robominds, she was pursuing her dreams to be actively involved in the coaching and mentoring of the future leaders of India in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

Chris Bastianpillai
Chris Bastianpillai graduated with a BSc in Electronic Engineering from the City University, London and later obtained an Executive MBA from the AGSM, University of NSW, Australia. Chris has lived and worked in Asia, Europe, Australia and the USA and has over three decades of Engineering and Management experience in the bio-medical, computing, military-aerospace, and telecommunication sectors, primarily focused on the design, development, test, manufacture and supply of high-reliability, mission critical products and services to the global market. Chris is passionate about mentoring and training the future generation in Science, Technology, Business Management, and Economics, and to help build a better world through education. He has dedicated a major part of his time in mentoring, training and developing young adults through his involvement in various academic, corporate, and social activities. After having worked for leading multi-nationals throughout his career, he migrated to his wife’s hometown, Pune, in 2013 and established Robominds.

Alumnus

Kanish Thiagarajan
Kanish is a robotics enthusiast who spends his time playing football, solving puzzles, or having fun designing and building Robots. Kanish’s curiosity of how things work got him involved with Robots at the age of 6 and has been participating in FIRST competitions since he was 8. He loves problem solving and fixing things. He is listed in the Guinness and Limca World Records for solving the Rubik’s cube.

Aditya Potnis
Aditya is a technology enthusiast who loves to spend his spare time designing and creating robots, and cycling. His curiosity for understanding how things work led him to Robominds in 2013 and was our first registered student. Aditya has been taking part in the FLL and WRO competitions since 2014 and has competed five times at the National level and represented India at two International events (FLL-OEC 2016 and WRO 2016). Having completed his 12th grade, Aditya is currently doing his internship at Robominds as a Research and Training Associate.

Siddharth Thiagarajan
Siddharth was introduced to Robotics at the age of 11 and has been actively involved since then. Siddharth has a strong passion for coaching teams, and enjoys the programming and failure analysis aspects of Robotics. He has competed at the national and international levels, representing India on more than one occasion.