The man had no formal training or expertise in the field other than his observation-driven knowledge.
Thoubal (Manipur):
Enthralled by Hollywood superhero movies, a 20-year-old man from Manipur created a replica of Marvel’s iconic character ”Iron Man” out of electronic waste.
Ningombam Prem, who hails from Heirok Part-2 village in Thoubal district said that he created the costume using electronic waste, in which he collected from radio and television.
“I have always wanted to create a robot since my childhood days. But this craze for Iron Man costume started around 2015. One reason for creating is — I want to add this scientific effect in Manipuri films as most of the stories are based on romantic films,” Mr Prem said.
“I collected most of these from electronic waste — radio shops and television. Since we could not afford to buy materials, I have collected all these materials,” he added.
The man had no formal training or expertise in the field other than his observation-driven knowledge. He said that Hollywood scientific movies enthralled him to make these replicas of superheroes.
Mr Prem had first constructed a demo model of the robot arm by using discarded emergency lamps as its arms and started planning to fit in the ”Iron Man” armour.
Most of these armours are made out of motors, while most of the body parts are made of cardboard. The armours are also made of discarded scrap materials, emergency lamps, electronic toys, syringes, speaker frames and even IV-fluid tubes.
Premchand, younger brother of Mr Prem said, “I cried and persuaded my elder brother to make Iron Man and he agreed. Later, he dropped it and started making other things. He instructs me what to do.”
Mr Prem has also created several other robotic items similar to the mechanism of producing web from the hand like that of Spiderman’s wave. He now efficiently repairs television, radio and emergency lamps at home that would otherwise require the services of an electrician.
“Being a single mother, I could not afford to buy the things he needs. Knowing my financial constraint, he collected all the material from electronic waste nearby. When he uploaded his creations on Facebook, people requested him to create more such things but so far no one visited personally to support us,” Ningombam Raseshwori Devi, mother of Mr Prem said.
“As I am unable to support him financially, it would be good if the government would provide financial aid in order to make him excel better in future,” he added.
