The Robotex India Championship 2024 a platform for young sparks showcasing future skills

Pune: Robotex India Championship 2024 took place in an environment filled with future technology such as a Waste Segregator for Landfills, an Earthquake Detection Robot, a firefighter robot that is ready to put out a fire, a robot that solves puzzles with its ingenuity. Technologically skilled school and college students from various states including Maharashtra showed glimpses of their robotics, and AI prototypes in this competition.

The annual Robotex India Championship 2024 was organized this year at the World Peace Dome, MIT-ADT University, Loni Kalbhor, Pune. Around two thousand student participants from Zilla Parishad and Municipal Corporation schools in rural areas of Maharashtra to national-level students from various states, participated in the competition. Competitions were held in various categories such as Line Follower, Maze Solver, Robo Sumo, Entrepreneurship, and Girls Fire Fighting. In this, the skill of the students, especially in primary and secondary schools, was applauded.

Sunita Venkat, Chancellor, Executive Director MIT ADT University, Anjali Byce Group Chief Human Resource Officer, Sterlite Technologies Limited, Pushpendra Kumar, General Manager of Analytics & Business Intelligence from Finolex Industries, Ali Khan Director - IT Governance, risk ZS India, Pinky Rajpal - FLO Pune Chapter Chair, Dr. Praveen B. Binjha.

Department of ICT and Training Division CIET and National Council of Educational Research and Training, Dr. Shantipal Ohol—center head of Excellence in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence COEP Technological University Pune, Preeti B—Communication, Social media, Corporate Responsibility, Mrinmayi Koshti—leader HR and CSR Head, Globant—was present at the competition.

Payal Rajpal, Director of Robotex India, said "60 percent of the students in this competition are from government schools. This competition has been organized to provide these students with a platform to showcase their technological skills, and STEM knowledge which they learn all academic year in school. Last year, students from nine Zilla Parishad schools in Maharashtra got an opportunity to compete at the international championship with participants from over 57 countries". The winning students of this competition will participate in the Robotex International Championship 2024 to be held in Estonia, Europe in December.

Anjali Byce, Group Chief Human Resource Officer, Sterlite Technologies Limited, title sponsor of the competition said “Our main objective is to provide STEM and Technology education to students and give them opportunities at the national and international competitions, bridging the digital divide. We have impacted over 6000 students in schools located in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Silvassa."

Pinky Rajpal, FICCI FLO Pune Chapter Chair, said that more than 2000 students from different parts of the country have participated in this competition. We are happy about it. These are the students who will put India on the map of science and technology.

Ali Khan Director - IT Governance, Risk ZS India, "We have been associated with the Robotex India initiative and the competition for four years, we have supported three hundred students through CSR. This initiative is mainly to provide gender-inclusive, equal access to technology education for school students. It is certainly a matter of pride that the students are getting a platform on a large scale through this competition.

Saroj Kumar Aapto, Vice President, of the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India, said, that participation in such competitions improves the scientific skills of the students, that's why we are supporting competitions like the Robotex India Championship at regional, national, and international levels. Successful students in this competition will get an opportunity to show their talent at the international level. So, in a way, students will be able to show their technology skills along the lines of the Olympics.

Prakash Kumar Das of WNS Company said that through the Robotics India Championship, we are trying to provide students with various opportunities in the STEM field. So far six lakh students have got opportunities through WNS company.