My Experience at YTS: A Catalyst for Budding Tech Leaders
In June 2023, I had the privilege to attend the Young Technology Scholars (YTS) summer program at Plaksha University. It was absolutely a great experience and an exhilarating two weeks of my life.
The YTS initiative isn’t an average summer program — it’s like a launchpad for bright minds. It’s not about attending hours of boring lectures, but a whole hub of growth, self-discovery, and sparking up new ideas. It was a robotics program focusing on integrating hardware and software to solve real-world problems.
I came across the YTS program on social media and immediately went to explore the details on their website. The moment I delved into it, I knew it was a great opportunity that I could not let go of. Right then and there I started filling out the application form and was elated to receive a positive response a few weeks later.
My memories of this tech journey start right from the first day when I stepped onto the campus.
This experience has given me a holistic view of college life and education. Although at first, I was a bit hesitant to stay away from my family for 2 whole weeks, I now have the confidence for when I truly go for a 4 years college course.
Talking about academics, I loved how the YTS program gave us a lot of practical work to do. This helped me think outside the 4 walls of classroom theoretical knowledge and step into the real world.
Throughout the first week, we had lectures from esteemed professors talking about their areas of research and specialization. We had the best of the best professors, my favourites being Hanumant Sir and Ravi Sir. We used to talk to our professors even during lunch and dinner breaks, trying to crack our heads on the homework problems with them. The afternoons were even more thrilling with hands-on work in 3 divisions — microcontrollers, electronics, and programming. The hands-on work that we worked on in the first week was all integrated for us to work on, the most spectacular and my favourite part of the program during the second week — the final projects.
Although I was a bit disappointed at first that I did not get assigned to my first project preference, which was the Tele-operational Bot, the following week completely changed my perspective and I simply loved the experience.
If you are wondering what my project was, it was an ECG (Electrocardiogram) Machine. We have all heard and probably even seen an ECG Machine being used at hospitals, but building one myself was exciting.
The program equipped us with the knowledge and tools to address real-world challenges using robotics, with a focus on enhancing cardiac monitoring and patient care. One of the aims of our project was to make an ECG more accessible and affordable for everyone.
We started with just learning how to use a pulse sensor, however. we soon transitioned into the actual ECG device.
In our project, coded primarily using Arduino, we used 3 leads (One on each arm and one on the right leg — all placed next to areas where pulse values are easily recognizable) to take ECG readings from the patient which were then processed by an ECG Module. A PQRST Graph was then plotted according to the heart’s movements on an OLED screen. We also sent the values we plotted to a server. Furthermore, we analyzed this data in Python to find the number of peaks in 1000 readings and the time interval between each.
The project was not without its challenges. We encountered several problems during the making of this project. Sometimes, there was too much noise in our graph, sometimes we had just missed a small yet important line in our code, and sometimes we just had to rip off our circuit and start all over.
We discovered something that was an eye-opener. Whenever there was even a single device nearby plugged in to charge, the PQRST graph was so distorted, with huge amounts of noise, that it seemed unrecognizable.
Although we sometimes got frustrated with all the issues, we remained determined, exploring innovative approaches to overcome the difficulties. Working in multidisciplinary teams, we collaborated to ideate, prototype, and test our solution. Finally, with our peers and teaching assistants (TAs), we were able to bring the best out of us.
On the last day of the program, we had a ‘Demo Day’. We had arranged our projects in the form of stalls and all the parents came around trying to understand what we had made over the last 2 weeks.
Through the course of the program, we had guest lectures and mentoring sessions from well-known professors, founders, and tech leaders who have helped shape the university into what it is today.
We even had a talent night and dance party on one of the days. I did a group dance with a few other friends and received immense appreciation for it. The dance party was mind-blowing. We all had so much fun, more than I could ever imagine.
All the additional activities that were planned for us were filled with vibrancy and intuitive thinking. We participated in a treasure hunt, made towers from spaghetti and marshmallows, painted rocks, played various team games, and had a delightful time.
A student council committee for was formed for the duration of the program and I was fortunate enough to be selected for it. I was deeply involved as the head of the backstage committee for the talent night and anchoring for Demo Day. This opportunity not only enriched my experience but provided me with valuable insights and skills.
At YTS, I got to mingle with a diverse group of people — students, mentors, professors, and TAs. It was a whole community shaping the tech leaders of tomorrow!
The connections I made at Plaksha, will last forever. I got to interact with so many university students and learned so much from them. Insights and support from honourable Professors and TAs from esteemed institutes were invaluable and supportive throughout my journey.
Some of the great friendships I made at YTS, will last an eternity. We didn’t just have fun; we made memories. I remember waking up late and then rushing to class, making Maggi together at midnight, staying up till 2 or 3 am talking and whining about the program ending soon, and just spending hours chatting throughout the day. I cherished every moment I spent at YTS and will carry every memory with me.
Apart from technical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills which the program was meant to inculcate, I also got a huge exposure to leadership, communication, collaboration, time management, networking, and so much more.
The program was like experiencing life in university. Life away from home. Life once I step out into the real world. YTS wasn’t confined to a mere fortnight; it was a brief yet impactful chapter of my life.
Reflecting upon my journey at the Young Technology Scholars Program, beyond the walls of classes and the wisdom from mentors, it felt like the heartbeat of my commitment to drive innovation forward. YTS didn’t just teach me; it inspired me to become more than a learner — an aspiring tech leader, fueled by passion and driven by innovation. This was a huge step that has brought me much closer to my ideated future.
