This entrepreneur is ready to make her Silicon Valley-designed robots in Bangladesh

Rudmeela Nawsheen wants to manufacture robots in Bangladesh. Photo: Courtesy

As industries become more capital-intensive, automation is the next frontier to remain competitive in the global economy. Rudmeela Nawsheen, a Bangladeshi-born US expat, recognised this reality and wants to nurture Bangladeshi young talents and tech enthusiasts so that they can take charge in the future.

But that is not all. She also wants to manufacture robots in Bangladesh with local talent and create a hospitable ecosystem for tech and robotics enthusiasts. She wants to create a bridge for talent between Silicon Valley and Bangladesh.  

"I want to bring together the best of both countries (USA and Bangladesh) and build something that we can sell globally," Rudmeela proudly said.

But who is she? And what is her plan to pull this off?

Rudmeela Nawsheen, originally from Bangladesh, finished her A-Levels from Scholastica and went on to pursue Electrical Engineering degree at the San Jose State University in California, US, followed by Masters of Science in Digital Communication and Multimedia. She graduated with summa cum laude honours.

She built her first company in 2016. It is an XR (Extended Reality) company that, by definition, focuses on augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality as well as animation and game development. It is called ConfigVR. 

Later, she went on and founded ConfigRbot which is a Robotics and AI company. Both ConfigVR and ConfigRbot are silicon-valley based start-ups that operate in both Bangladesh and USA. She is the founder and CEO of both entities.

As of writing this feature story, Rudmeela has launched six robots. Apart from the educational robots, she has launched sanitising robots, humanoid robots, robotic arms, and so on. These robots have a wide range of applications from household hygiene to the industrial production and automation process.

At first impression, Rudmeela seemed to have an aura of optimism that is very difficult to find over here.

As soon as the conversation began, Rudmeela picked up one of the educational robots - more commonly known as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) Robots - from the table in front of her. These robots can be found at her ConfigRbot Facebook page.

"I want to encourage children in Bangladesh to take interest in the arena of robotics, programming, machine learning, and artificial intelligence from a very early age. That is why we promote and sell these educational robots and I received a great response from them as well," she explained.

"Unlike Bangladesh, here we teach coding from a very early age, when children are in the fifth or sixth grade. Bangladeshi kids - except for a few enthusiastic minds - often get introduced to the world of coding and robotics only when they are in university," Rudmeela added.

Currently, ConfigRbot manufactures their robots in China, India, and Singapore. However, Rudmeela wants to start assembling these robots in Bangladesh soon.

"I want to shift the assembly process of ConfigRbot entirely to Bangladesh. I plan to establish an assembly plant by December 2021," she said. 

But she also knows that Bangladesh does not have the necessary infrastructure to accommodate or influence its youngsters to pursue a career in technology or innovate something extraordinary. Out-of-the-box ideas often do not see the light of day. Rudmeela's primary objective is to harbour a hospitable ecosystem that would accommodate tech enthusiasts in Bangladesh.

"When I was in Dhaka, I felt like there were a lot of talented kids in Bangladesh. They were tech-savvy, broad-minded, and hard-working. We have a huge pool of talent but they do not have proper guidance from experienced mentors," Rudmeela said.

Talent, we do have. Bangladeshi universities like Dhaka University, BRAC University, BUET and MIST have a history of commendable performances in global competitions like the "University Rover Challenge." Their prototypes often blow the minds of seasoned veterans in this field. 

However, these prototypes, usually, never become full-fledged products due to lack of funding and most of these talents fly abroad and never come back. 

"This is where I come in. Many of these kids come up with innovative ideas but cannot penetrate the glass ceilings, most students do not have the experience of working hands-on in laboratories. I want to change that. I want them to work with me on their prototypes and sell these products through my company," she said.

To foster talent at the grassroots level, Rudmeela has also launched a training centre here in Bangladesh under ConfigRbot. The training centres offer courses at the grassroots level on coding, machine learning, robotics, AI as well as Chinese and Japanese language. On top of that, these courses are quite affordable and they are currently training 45 students, hailing from different parts of the country. They are also providing consultancy services to send students abroad.

"When we initiate the plant, we are going to need a lot of skilled employees that we currently do not have in abundance in Bangladesh. So, I am looking forward to hiring some of the talents we acquire through our training centres," Rudmeela said.

"I want to make ConfigRbot robots in Bangladesh, sell them locally and globally. I want these robots to read 'Made in Bangladesh'," she added.

Rudmeela also wants to revolutionise agriculture in Bangladesh, especially in terms of the supply chain. 

Farmers in Bangladesh have historically been exploited at the hands of market syndicates and profiteers, while they could barely make their ends meet. This transcending cycle of disenfranchisement has continued for too long and has gotten away, thanks to the sheer dearth of transparency in the agricultural supply chain. 

Rudmeela, with her partner company, has come up with a solution to this problem. She believes using KrishokChain - a blockchain-based technology, tailor-made for the farmers in Bangladesh, can put an end to their everlasting misery. 

Most farmers who toil day and night do not even know how their produce reaches our doorsteps from theirs. Lack of training, education, or awareness often leaves them vulnerable to the hands of market syndicates, extortionists, and other forces that manipulate the market. Since the government is a centralised authority, it is often very difficult for it to take care of these problems at the grassroots level. This is where KrishokChain comes in. 

KrishokChain is a blockchain-based, decentralised, transparent ledger that would record all the transactions taking place across the country. This would allow farmers to be more aware of the market conditions and the prices charged in city markets for their produce. 

"I recently participated in a blockchain summit with Bangladesh government policymakers where I proposed KrishokChain as a solution for Bangladeshi farmers. Using krishokChain, the end-users will be able to tell where their products come from. If you buy a tomato, you would know which farmer produced that tomato and how much he received for it," said Rudmeela.

Another major problem farmers face is an exclusive financial sector that fails to incorporate them in the process. Rudmilla has a plan for that as well.

"We will be first in the world to connect blockchain with SMS and IVR. Financial inclusion does not exclude people without data networks and literacy. Most solutions assume people have the internet and smartphones," she said.

"We would like to collaborate with different NGOs, visit centres that incorporate farming activities, create farmers' units, and train them. Then we will connect these units across the country so that farmers can communicate and trace each transaction in the supply chain."

But Rudmeela is also concerned about the poor quality of internet and electricity in the rural pockets of Bangladesh. How does she plan to deal with these issues?

Rudmeela said she has plans for it and will propose solutions in her upcoming visit to Bangladesh.