IT Teens: Hayk Hyusisyan

It’s a proved fact that love for technologies begins in childhood. Today students go to school with smartphones and do their homework on tablets.

There are many teenagers in Armenia now, who not only use smartphones and tablets but also try to create something on their own - a game, an app or a program.

Itel.am continues its IT Teens series, presenting Armenian teenagers who’ve been interested in technologies since early childhood and create products in this industry.

10-year-old Hayk Hyusisyan develops technologies for archeology, makes robots and studies VR (virtual reality) tech.

“I’ve been interested in technologies since I was 5 years old, when I started playing computer games. My brother downloaded Need for Speed. I loved that game, I would ask him to put it on and I’d play for half an hour every day. I was 8 or 9 when my parents gave me my first phone, it was Samsung Galaxy J1. I play different games that help me, for instance, to improve my vocabulary or guess pictures,” he told.

Last year Hayk also attended an archeological club for children.

photo © Mediamax

“I made a mechanical hand that allows extracting bones during excavation. Doing that work with your hands can lead to poisonous substances penetrating your body. If you use instruments, you might damage the bone, DNA might not be recovered, so I made the hand to prevent those problems. I also developed another mechanism – Duster. It can clean cuneiform and has a small lamp if you’re working in a dark place,” said Hayk.

Hayk Hyusisyan
photo © Mediamax

The young archeologist also likes robotics.

“I expanded my knowledge in Armath lab, started working with devices and making robots. I also made a VR headset. I did it after my Armath group visit Arloopa company, where we were shown VR headsets. I was very impressed and made one on my own. Now I can use it to watch VR.”

Hayk plans to improve his engineering skills in the coming year and make better tools that would contribute to development of archeology.

Hayk Hyusisyan
photo © Mediamax

“I haven’t chosen an occupation yet, but I have three favorites. The first is archeology; I want to excavate and learn about the people who lived before, their daily routine and about soil layers. The second is medicine. My grandmother is a doctor and I want to be one too. The third favorite profession is engineering; I want to build equipment myself,” told Hayk.

Blitz questions:

- Would you prefer a football match in the street or a computer game at home?

- Both. If there’s no one playing in the street, I’ll stay home. I believe VR games don’t replace reality. It’s better to do something outside than sit in front of computer at home. I spend two or three hours a day at the computer. I’m very fond of strategy games as they make you think.

- Imagine that computers and smartphones disappeared from the face of the Earth. What would you do?

- I’d try to create new ones, but I’d make them indestructible. I would also make them from materials that wouldn’t harm environment.

- What would you spend your first million on?

- May I have more than one million (laughs)? For instance, this is how I’d spend two millions: there are kids with impaired hearing in my class and they don’t have hearing aids, so I’d spend some of the money on helping them get the aids and the rest would go to the Hyusisyan Corporation.

- A vacation at Silicon Valley or the Maldives?

- I’d love to spend my vacation in woodland, mountainous area, somewhere with a river (laughs).

- What famous IT person would you like to dine with?

- Steve Jobs, if he was alive. I’d ask how he made iPhone perfect. We’d eat stake, barbeque, and kebab.

Narine Daneghyan
Photos by Emin Aristakesyan