Pune : Two teams of robotic enthusiasts from Pune, Maharashtra, aged between 14 and 17 have recently won the opportunity to represent India at the ‘FIRST™ World Robotic Championship’ in Detroit, Michigan, USA and the Open European Championship.
Participants from over 60 countries are expected to compete at the World Championship event this year with over 60,000 attendees at the 4 day event in April which will provide the opportunity to showcase and benchmark India’s capabilities and talent in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) on a global technology platform.
The teams were coached and mentored by Prakalpa and Chris Bastian pillai, founders of Robominds, Pune’s own technology workshop for Children.The veteran Robominds team, The Horcruxes, comprising of Riva Verma (St. Mary’s School), Kanish Thiagarajan (DLRC), Siddarth Iyer (DLRC), Piyush Kolhatkar (Kalmadi Shamarao Junior College), and Sajal Deolikar (Vibgyor High School) became the National Robotic Champions by winning the coveted ‘FLL 2018 Championship Award’ and The ‘Rockwell Automation Robot Performance Award’ at the Regional and National Competitions.
Team Ripple comprising of Shreyasi Joshi (New India School), Shaunak Karyekar (DLRC), Om Gandhi (St. Mary’s School), Shaashvat Sekhar (Vidya Valley School), Saurav Athavale (SES Gurukul School), and Yash Gala (Delhi Public School) won the Champions Award and the Robot Performance Award at the Regional Competition, and the Best Project Research Award at the National Competition.
Team Horcruxes will be the only team representing India at the FLL World Championship to be held in Detroit, Michigan in April whilst Team Ripple will represent India at the Open European Championship to be held in Estonia later this year.
