What If the Best Engineers Never Made It to IIT? | ft. Kavi Arya #3TBPodcast

What 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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