Whether it’s building and programming a robot, or creating his own personal touch-screen tablet, Zorawar Kamboj has had little trouble keeping busy during the pandemic.
“I love it so much,” said Kamboj, who spends three to five hours a day working on various projects.
The fourteen-year-old who lives with autism has always had a knack for numbers.
“He was diagnosed with autism when he was three years old, he was good with math from the very first year [in school],” said Aman Kamboj, Zorawar’s father.
Aman has supported his son’s time-consuming and, at times, costly hobby from the start. He purchases parts online for special projects like the one Zorawar is currently working on, a camera that displays someone’s temperature.
“It detects heat vision and it also detects the humans in a different colour,” said Zorawar.
It’s still in its final testing stage but once finished, Zorawar plans to use it in his dad’s business and offer it to local schools. Zorawar does everything from constructing the hardware to writing the code to make it function. His father only helps when soldering is required.
“It’s important to all of us to make sure if no one is sick or not [sick],” said Zorawar, who wants his products to help in the fight against COVID-19.
During his interview with CHEK, Zorowar received parts in the mail for his next challenge — building automated hand sanitizer dispensers. He also plans on offering these dispensers to local schools in need. Although still just a teenager, Zorowar is beyond his years behind a keyboard — a place that brings him joy.
“He feels confident and he’s happy,” said Aman.
And Zorowar would like to make a career out of it one day. But for now, it’s all about having fun and learning new skills.
“I think it can motivate other kids too, because these are new technologies, if society doesn’t learn the new technologies, we will be lagging behind,” said Aman.
Kevin Charach
