Pune (Voice news service):- At the recent FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) India National Robotics Championship held in Goa, team Horcruxes (No.18031) from Robominds, Pune, won the coveted ‘Inspire Award’, for their outstanding performance in all aspects of the competition.
Team Horcruxes, competed against 58 other teams from across India, Sri Lanka, and Kazakhstan in an alliance format, over a four-day period, to win the championship by demonstrating their excellence in teamwork and technological superiority with their robot, ‘Robbie 2.0’, named after the stray Indie that adopted them at Robominds, and became their mascot.
FTC is an international competition, where teams from around the globe are challenged to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete head-to-head, in an alliance format. Through participation, students develop hands-on skills in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Design (STEM-D), and practice engineering principles, whilst realizing the value of hard work, innovation, and team work. The skills that are imperative for India’s growth and future world dominance.
The robot used in the competition was designed and built from the ground-up, and programmed to function in an autonomous mode by a majority girl team from Pune, ranging in ages from 11 to 16, comprising of Ronav Paranjape, 11 (Abhinav Vidyalaya), Kaushik Annadata, 12 (PICT Model School), Siddarth Rajagopal-Bist, 12 (Kalyani School), Aarya Surana, 12 (St. Mary’s School), Mahek Bhatia, 13 (Vibgyor High Balewadi), Darsh Ahuja, 13 (Kalyani School), Yashoda Rajanal, 13 (Dr.Kalmadi Shamarao High Kannada Medium School), Pranav Natesh, 14 (Rabindranath Tagore School of Excellence), Anushka Basu, 15 (The Orchid School), Mrunmay Behere, 15 (DLRC), Aditi Natekar, 15 (Dr.Kalmadi Shamarao High Kannada Medium School), Ira Karmarkar, 16 (MP College), Tejas Bapat, 16 (MP College), Aditi Sharma, 16 (Indus International School), and Rachana Mali, 16 (SP Junior College). Some of the team members had participated in FIRST Lego League (FLL) and World Robot Olympiad (WRO) competitions in prior years, with Robominds, and represented India at several international competitions. However, this is the first year of entry for these participants in FTC.
Team Horcruxes 2.0 will now represent India at the FIRST World Championship in Houston, TX, USA, in April 2024, where they will compete against more than 150 teams from around 70 countries.
