Building an Export-Focused Robotics Industry in Trinidad & Tobago

September 23, 2020 Vijay Pradeep

September 23rd, 2020 - Vijay Pradeep

(An adapted print version of this article appears in Trinidad & Tobago’s Amcham Linkage Magazine, 2020 Issue 2, Page 48)

The digital era thus far has been about information: Organizing the world’s information, sharing that information globally, and most importantly, using that information to make our lives more meaningful, enjoyable, & efficient. However, this information has traditionally been stuck in our web browsers, computers, & mobile phones, with humans being the creators & consumers of this information. Robotics & AI (Artificial Intelligence) are the natural progression from this status quo, enabling machines to act on this information to solve problems and make our lives better.

For instance:

Online resources like WebMD can help diagnose medical ailments. But, a surgical robot could help surgeons perform complex operations more minimally & more safely, saving lives.
Online news & social media tells us where the Coronavirus has spread, but an AI could predict where it will appear next, thus helping to contain the virus.
In an earthquake or flood, a mobile phone can let you call for help. But, a delivery drone could drop off critical supplies to your exact GPS location.
Google Maps & Waze can give you directions to your destination, but a self driving car could actually take you there.

These all might sound far fetched, but every example I’ve just mentioned already exists, and this is just the beginning of how Robotics & AI will continue to grow, and impact our lives.

How Virtana Is Contributing

Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) is also able to participate in this global robotics ecosystem. Virtana, a robotics software development & outsourcing company, works with robotics companies all over the world, including tech giants like Google, to help build the next generation of robotic solutions, all while sitting right here in Trinidad. Some of Virtana’s projects include developing drone navigation systems, computer vision algorithms for factory robots, and robot simulators to train new types of artificial intelligence. It’s business-as-usual for a Virtana staff member to put on a virtual reality headset, remotely connect to a drone or robot 1000s of miles away, and test a new algorithm that we’ve just developed in our office.

There are two things that enable Virtana to participate in this global robotics ecosystem. Access to this global information, and digital connectivity to our global customers. With these two things, Virtana is able to work with robotics companies all over the world, to help build the next generation of robotic solutions to global challenges, all while sitting right here in our office in Trinidad (or from our homes, as witnessed during the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown).

Why High-Tech Exports Matter

People in T&T often ask “If all of Virtana’s customers are foreign, then how is Virtana actually helping T&T?” As applies to any export business, an immediate benefit is providing foreign exchange, and with the recent declines in exports from the energy sector, export diversification becomes an important step towards economic stability & recovery. However, the much more impactful effect of exporting technology solutions is that it increases T&T’s local capacity for robotics & technology development. The advanced robotics expertise that local engineers gain can then be utilized by other local organizations, thus making the entire local ecosystem more efficient and more profitable. Many of these engineers may even create their own local robotics & tech companies, thus creating entirely new sectors or industries in the local economy.

What Needs to Change, Locally

Given the exponential growth in the field of robotics worldwide, Virtana has more projects queued up than we can execute on, forcing Virtana to often turn down new work. The company currently consists of a team of 12 people, all based right in Trinidad, but it has been challenging to find the right people to join the team. The local mindset needs to change to help steer current students, young professionals, & experienced engineers towards cutting edge fields like robotics, and local companies like Virtana. Here are some ways to make this happen:

Retool Education for Lifelong Growth

We need to prepare our students for a lifetime of learning, and not just the next exam. To succeed at Virtana or other high tech ventures, employees need to think critically & creatively, synthesizing new information from multiple sources & disciplines to solve challenging problems they have never encountered during their formal education.

Instill a Tech Creator Mindset

We need to change the local mindset from that of tech consumers to tech creators. Configuring networks, designing websites, and developing apps are a great starting point, but we need to expand the notion of tech to go deeper to include creating the next generation of technologies that will propel society forward, and robotics is a key piece of that vision.

Focusing More on Service-based Exports

We need to think more globally, and be creative as to what we export to the global market. Exports don’t always have to be manufactured or grown, and services in high growth areas like robotics are hugely in demand. High tech services are also much more resilient than traditional exports in lockdown scenarios, as seen during the Covid-19 pandemic. Virtana is proud to have had zero disruptions in business continuity while transitioning the entire company from our office to a work-from-home setting, which was possible because it is almost fully a knowledge-based service business.

Investing in local talent via import substitution

We need to create new opportunities in the public & private sector that encourage our best & brightest to stay in Trinidad & Tobago. When local organizations need advanced tech expertise, they often rely on foreign consultants to deliver these solutions, with very little of this knowhow being shared with the T&T client. Meanwhile, T&T’s best & brightest in tech look outward to the US, Canada or England to grow their careers. By substituting imported foreign tech services with local engineers, we can address both of these issues. In the short term, this approach will surely be more costly, more time consuming, and initially lower quality than hiring foreign consultants, but these investments in T&T’s local talent will begin to raise the technical capabilities of local engineers, thus creating positive ripple effects in both T&T’s public & private sectors.

Overall, we’re definitely in the early days of Trinidad & Tobago’s robotics industry. But, with the right support from educational institutions, private industry, and the government, we believe that we can make Trinidad & Tobago a key player in the global robotics ecosystem.

For more information about Virtana, please visit www.virtanatech.com.

Figure 1 - UWI students participating in the Virtana Code Jam event in February 2020. Events like this promote technical growth and teamwork through challenging algorithmic puzzles, and give students exposure to the types of skills needed to tackle many of the problems encountered at companies like Virtana.

References

[Title & Excerpt Photo] - "Parlatuvier Bay, Trinidad and Tobago" - July 13, 2019 - Photo Credit: awegner58, Pixabay - License: Pixabay License - Original