HYDERABAD: For the first time in 20 years, Indian students have won prizes in the International Robofest held in Michigan. A team of five students from the city, of whom only three travelled to the US have secured second and third positions in three categories at the International Robofest 2019.
Of the 250 teams from 16 countries, the Hyderabad lads made their mark. Though the competition is nearly two-decades-old, this was only the second time Indian students participated in the Robofest. It was in 2016 that the Indian students had debuted in the competition for the first time. The competition was held between May 16-18 and the students are returning home on Thursday.
Suhas Devullapalli, a class 12 student from DAV Public School Kukatpally, Aarnav Devulapalli, of class 10 from Sentia School, Miyapur and Tarun Mukesh, a class 6 student from Manthan International School, represented India in Michigan along with Abhijan and Tarak, class 10 and 6 students of Oakridge from back home participated in the competition.
Worked for this day over a decade, says Int’l Robofest prize winners
The students won third prize in a competition called Bottle sumo wherein a predesigned robot ( by them) had to push the opponent’s robot off a table. They clinched the second prizes in two other categories called Unknown Mission Challenge (UMC) and Binary Block.
In UMC, one of the most challenging competitions, students had to design a robot within two hours to do specific tasks. In Binary Block too an already designed robot was given a number and a code which it had to turn into binary. The students were trained by city-based Tix Robotics, a private firm that teaches robotics to students of private and even government schools.“We have been working for this day for the past 10 years. It is a proud moment. For the past several months they worked extensively and some days they even put in 18-20 hours,” said Prassona Devullapalli, director of Tix Robotics.
KTR congratulates all
My hearty compliments to all three youngsters; Suhas, Aarnav and Tarun on making us all proud (sic).” He also retweeted Telangana State Innovation Cell’s (TSIC) tweet on the students. “Proud moment for #India as 3 #YoungChampions from #Hyderabad secured 2nd and 3rd in three categories at International Robofest -2019 at @Lawrence TechU, Michigan. This feat of winning is the first time for India in 20 years (sic).”