Interviewed By Muktadir Mubassir, Team MBR

The JRC Board is the first ever true IoT development board designed and developed in Bangladesh. It is an ESP32-based development board with built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, PWM pins, touch sensor pins, and a motor driver with a C-type power port. The word JRC stands for the name of the late national professor and scholar, Professor Dr. Jamilur Reza Choudhury, who is the inspiration and motivation for the development of this board. JRC Board is a credit cardsized board that is compatible with the most common electronic project prototyping board, Arduino’s shields, and can be programmed in Arduino IDE or Micropython. More than 100 projects have already been developed using this board, 1,500 students have been trained on the use of this board, and three international awards have been won by the participants who used the JRC Board for developing their robots. Team MBR was in a conversation with Mr. Redwan Ferdous, Chief Executive Officer, JRC Board, to learn about JRC Board and its role in facilitating 4IR technologies in Bangladesh.

Muktadir Mubassir: You possess over a decade worth of experience in project management and product development, as well as a diverse background that includes various roles at Labaid, Aamra, Walton, and Pi Labs. How did your journey in embedded systems, data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, and robotics influence the development of the JRC Board?

Redwan Ferdous: I started my career as a junior research engineer at Pi Labs. There, I worked for over a year and gained the experience to develop different embedded systems. I can proudly say that we initiated the first ever extensive training on the Raspberry Pi, a compact and portable PC, back in 2014. After that, I shifted to Walton Group, and there I worked in two different segments: the cellphone R&D department in the earlier days and later on in the electrical department, whose scope included all the real estate properties of the group, including sales points, service centres, factory buildings, headquarters, stalls in the fairs, and so on. Therein, after over two years of my journey in that group, I had the experience of both planning and establishing the electrical setup for any large-scale property, as well as the experience of establishing the first ever cellphone manufacturing factory in the country. Later on, this experience helped me shift and perform in the Aamra Group’s cellphone manufacturing factory project, where I worked as the lead engineer and coordinator. After four years of working there, I shifted to Labaid Cancer Hospital and worked as a senior manager and head of electro-mechanical engineering. I was one of the youngest HoDs there. And that was my last workplace as a jobholder.

From 2017 onwards, in parallel with my job, I was also engaged in youth development in the field of STEM education through a voluntary organisation called Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) under the leadership of Mr. Munir Hasan. Back in 2017, BdOSN and Computer Services Limited took an initiative called ‘IoT Fiesta’ aiming to spread awareness regarding the 4th Industrial Revolution among the future generation, especially among the university students who will be in the job market within a short period of time. We reached almost 30 universities within a year, and from there, the journey of the JRC Board started. Back then, the founder of Computer Services Limited, Mr. Momluk Sabir Ahmed, was involved in a project called ‘One Dollar Board’, which was backed by MIT, USA. Being a development partner of that particular board, the idea of developing a local IP product came to the table, and thus the journey of JRC Board started. A team of developers worked on the JRC Board project who were initially trained and also worked under my supervision in the IoT Fiesta program. Among them, Mr. Maherul Azam Koreshi was the person who made the final design of the board. As a full-time employee in the different organisations mentioned above, most of the time I was engaged during after-office hours. Then, I left my full-time job on December 31, 2022, and started dedicating all my time to the project on January 01, 2023.

During my voluntary journey from 2017 until 2023, we trained almost 23,000 students and teachers, and I personally provided training to more than 2,000 participants in different sectors. Also, I was engaged with the EMK Centre, affiliated with the U.S. Embassy in Bangladesh, as an embedded system consultant for two years and received training on IoT, robotics, big data, data analysis, and artificial intelligence at Fujitsu, Japan, under the scholarship programme of the 12-IT-Park-Project of the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority back in 2019. All the way through my career, I have tried to work to spread awareness regarding next-generation technologies and knowledge to future generations to ensure a sustainable society as well as create a new scope of business in the country.

Muktadir Mubassir: The JRC Board is named after the late Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, who was one of the most prominent figures in education, science, and technology in Bangladesh. Would you kindly share the inspiration behind naming the board after him and the impact you aim to achieve in line with his legacy?

Redwan Ferdous: As I have already mentioned, I am engaged with one of the reputed not-for-profit organisations, BdOSN. Professor Dr. Jamilur Reza Choudhury was like a banyan tree above us all in all sorts of activities of BdOSN. A versatile character like him served not only for the nation’s development but also made the country a countable one on the world map through the empowerment of youths in different intellectual activities in the field of STEM. Dr. Jamilur’s dream was to experience at least one scholar winning the Nobel Prize in the field of STEM from Bangladesh by 2030, and we are working towards chasing his unfulfilled dream. As he left us during the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2020, very unfortunately, we have named the board after him as a tribute to keep us recalling that he always worked for the nation and so should we. JRC sir was informed that we were trying to design a development board, but unfortunately he was not among us during its initial release.

Muktadir Mubassir: As the first ever true IoT development board that has been designed and developed in Bangladesh, JRC Board caters to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies such as automation, robotics, IoT, etc. What were the specific challenges or gaps in the market that you identified that led to the creation of this innovative board?

Redwan Ferdous: The history of electronics, robotics, and automation is not that old. Perhaps a decade at best. After independence in 1971, progress in these fields was very slow-paced and limited. There were many development boards available in our country, and the most interesting thing was that the entire industry was import- oriented. We do not have a single thing to be proud of in this field that we have developed, which led us to develop such a board that we can say is our very own.

All the available development boards are for different purposes and are segmented. We have tried to develop a kind of board that can be used to design and execute any prototype project with the existing add-on boards available on the market. This can be further programmed with the available programming environment that students or developers are familiar with. At the same time, it has IoT enabled with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity and a basic motor driver that can be used to run basic actuators like DC motors. We have filled the gap of developing an IoT project on a single standalone board, bypassing the use of two or more available boards.

You will be happy to know that the JRC Board’s brain is an ESP32 chip, and the producer of this chip has featured our board on their official website as well. Also, the development board, which has the largest market share in our country as well as in the world, released a similar type of board, like the JRC Board, in 2023, whereas our board was released back in 2021.

Muktadir Mubassir: JRC Board’s instrumental role in the success of Team Lazy-Go and Team Robonium Bangladesh in the World Robot Olympiad marks a significant achievement for both JRC Board and Bangladesh. Could you elaborate on the features of the JRC Board that set it apart from other development boards available on the market?

Redwan Ferdous: The JRC Board has some feathers in its cap for winning international robotics competitions. Back in 2022, a competition named World Robot Olympiad (WRO) was held in Germany, where a team in the ‘Future Engineers’ category, ‘Team Lazy-Go’, won 3rd place among 32 teams. Also, ‘Team Robonium Bangladesh’ won 8th place among 48 teams from more than 80 countries.

In 2023, in the same competition at WRO international in Panama, Team Robonium Bangladesh, which used the JRC Board for their project, won 5th place among more than 60 teams from more than 90 countries. Also, in another competition, the ‘International Robot Olympiad’ final in Thailand in 2023, a team won two silver medals where JRC Board was used for the project.

If you see, the JRC Board, which was released for the first time in 2021, was way ahead of the available boards on the market then, and it still has some unique, demanding features, as mentioned below:

Processors:

• CPU: Xtensa Dual-Core 32-Bit LX6 Microprocessor Operating at 240 MHz and Performing at Up to 600 DMIPS
• Ultra-Low Power (ULP) Co-Processor

Memory:

• 520 KB of RAM (Expandable to 8MB Externally)
• 1024 Locations for EEPROM
• 4 MB of Flash Memory (Expandable to 16 MB Externally)

Wireless Connectivity:

• Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
• 2 BR/EDR and Bluetooth LE

Peripheral Interfaces:

• 12-Bit SAR ADC Up to 18 Channels
• 2 × 8-Bit DACs (GPIO 25 and 26)
• 18 × PWM Pins (Controlled by Up to 16 Channels)
• 7 × Touch Sensors (Capacitive Sensing GPIOs)
• 1 × SPI 1 × I2S Interfaces 1 × I2C Interfaces 2 × UART

All digital pins are compatible with an external interrupt.

Muktadir Mubassir: The JRC Board eliminates the need for separate WiFi and Bluetooth for communication. Could you shed some light on the technological advancements that enable this seamless communication as well as its implications for the field of robotics and IoT development?

Redwan Ferdous: As I have already mentioned, there are many available boards in the existing market. But those boards for specific purposes, such as the most common development board, Arduino, can be used to develop a specific project or a prototype. But if anyone wants to control that specific project through the internet, i.e., make it ‘IoT enabled’, he or she needs to use another shield or an add-on board. Also, to make it controllable through Bluetooth, it needs another circuit. Say, for motor control, attaching another board is required.

We have simply replaced the dependency on 7-8 similar types of extra circuits and made them available on a single board—harmonised and synchronized. Another good point is that this board can be used in prototyping as well as small- scale industrial automation.

As the board has internet, Bluetooth, and other significant communication protocols enabled (I2C, SPI, etc.), it can easily be used in any sort of common robot development, even developing a flight controller for a drone! Also, the JRC Board is the first ever board of its kind where a C-type port has been used for physical communication and to make the board more accessible. The quality of the board, PCB, and its colour (dark black) make the board even more attractive and professional- looking.

Muktadir Mubassir: In the realm of IoT development, compatibility with popular IDEs is essential. How does the compatibility of your IoT development board with the Arduino IDE enhance the user experience and streamline the development process for enthusiasts and professionals alike?

Redwan Ferdous: The powerful accepting feature of JRC Board is its compatibility with common programming platforms like C++ (Arduino IDE), Micropython, Lua, and others. Also, Espressif’s IoT Development Framework (IDF) or VSCode with PlatformIO can be used for the programming environment of the JRC Board.

Some common projects and programming can be found in the Github repository of the JRC Board for reference (https://github.com/jrcboard).

JRC Board has also achieved the feat of being in the top 50 among more than 7,000 applicants in Bangladesh’s flagship event of startup funding, Bangabandhu Innovation Grant (BIG) 2023. We have also become champions in the international entrepreneurship competition by JCI, the 1st JCI Creative Young Entrepreneurs Award 2023, among more than 350 applicants. Also, it was chosen as one of the top ventures of BYLC Ventures Cohort-7 2023. Across all the competitions, JRC Board was well-appreciated for its power to automate anything and its feature of easy programming and deployment.

Muktadir Mubassir: In the realm of educational technology, the JRC Board stands out as a pioneering electronic development board. How does this innovative board actively enhance STEM education, and could you elaborate on any initiatives or partnerships geared towards integrating the JRC Board into the educational curriculum, spanning from schools to universities?

Redwan Ferdous: The JRC Board is experiencing strong early adopter interest, indicating a promising future in the market. We have already trained a few thousand students and enthusiasts using this board through online and offline platforms. JRC Board offers the curriculum for learning IoT from beginner to advanced to pro level. And we are offering this curriculum to different schools as an after-school learning and co-curriculum activity.

FronTech Limited is a newly formed company that is working on commercialising this board. And FronTech has already struck an MoU with a few universities and educational institutions, including RUET, UoS, and others.

The JRC Board is being introduced through short and long workshops in different universities like Rajshahi University, BAIUST, and others. The JRC Board has organised the country’s one of the largest hackathons, named ‘Subornojoyonty Hackathon’, in 2021, with the second one being organised in 2023. In these hackathons, students from more than 100 institutions participated and experienced the JRC Board while solving different problems using the board.

In the year 2024, FronTech Limited is planning to collaborate with 20 universities and increase engagement using the board in the form of competitions, hackathons, workshops, seminars, and other methodologies. Any interested institutions are welcome to reach out to us for collaboration.

Muktadir Mubassir: As Bangladesh plans to incorporate Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies in various industries in the near future, the demand for development boards is expected to experience a sharp rise in the coming decades. Would you kindly share how the JRC Board plans to capitalise on this demand to further enhance its presence in the local market and eventually export the boards to overseas markets?

Redwan Ferdous: The era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution started back in 2015, and there were three different industrial revolutions in the immediate previous three centuries, starting in 1765, the year James Watt invented the steam engine. Unfortunately, Bangladesh, as a nation, could not take part in any of the journeys of these revolutions. Though we are talking about 4IR, in most of the sectors, especially in industries including manufacturing, we could not even assure the basic facilities of the second or third industrial revolution. So, it is a bit challenging to ensure 4IR in our emerging industries. Moreover, the next industrial revolution, which is still in its concept phase but about to become reality, where humans and machines will work collaboratively, is going to be accepted in the world very soon.

As a developing nation, we should focus more on developing capital machinery or increasing our capacity to develop platforms for applications both in hardware and software. We do believe ‘JRC Board’ was one of the first movements in the revolution. It is true that there will be a high rise in demand for these intellectual properties in the coming decades, and we are planning to capitalise on this in the local and global markets simultaneously. As we have already mentioned, our youngsters have been winning international robotics competitions for the past two or three years. Hence, we have introduced our boards to representatives of different countries who are participating in those competitions, such as the World Robot Olympiad, where almost 90 countries participated. We have already delivered the boards in numbers to countries like Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, the USA, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Germany, Palestine, South Africa, Serbia, etc., reaching a total of 20 countries. We are already in conversation about expanding our business across Latin America through the largest robotics kit providers in that region. The deal was started when we participated in the WRO international in Panama in 2023.

In the local market, we are already focusing not only on providing development boards but also on providing customised solutions to different industries using the boards.

So, yes, we are planning to expand our current market size in the coming years and make the board more affordable and acceptable in the industries, as well as a reliable board to depend on by the industrialists.