What If the Best Engineers Never Made It to IIT? | ft. Kavi Arya #3TBPodcastWhat drives someone to leave Imperial College, Oxford, and IBM Research to return to India in the 1990s—when few dared—and build a robotics movement from scratch?
In this episode of 3 Techies Banter, we sit down with Kavi Arya, the visionary behind e-Yantra and India’s pioneering robotics education initiatives. From the challenges of returning to a liberalizing India, to creating robotic kits that empowered thousands of students, to scaling innovation for a nation of 1.4 billion - this conversation is a masterclass in resilience, risk‑taking, and reimagining engineering education.
00:00 – Highlights of the Episode
04:09 – Intro of Kavi Arya
06:40 – Returning to India in the 1990s
11:20 – Tata Research & Family Business
15:30 – Joining IIT Bombay
20:45 – Building Entrepreneurial Culture at IIT
26:10 – Teaching Embedded Systems & Robotics Kits
31:00 – National Mission for Education Using ICT
36:25 – Industry Experience at Mahindra & Mahindra
42:50 – Founding Iyantra
49:15 – Student Projects & Breakthroughs
55:40 – Scaling Robotics Education
01:02:00 – Advanced Training: Drones & Control Systems
01:08:30 – Innovation, Scale & Culture
01:15:00 – Closing Thoughts
Discover how:
A PhD in embedded systems met India’s scarcity mindset.
IIT Bombay became the birthplace of hands‑on robotics learning.
Students built lemon‑sorting robots, drones, and even autonomous snakes.
Scale, culture, and confidence are the true engines of innovation.
If you’ve ever wondered how India can leapfrog into the future of technology, this episode is your blueprint.
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96|1H 9min
