A group of seven Indian students has bagged two awards at a robotics Olympiad organised by ‘FIRST Global’ in Washing D.C., US.
Indian Students at FIRST Global Robotics Olympiad:
The students, who hail from Mumbai, won gold for Zhang Heng Engineering Design Award The Indian team also won a bronze for Global Challenge Match.
- The award has been named after Zhang Heng, a Han Chinesepolymath who achieved success as an astronomer, mathematician, scientist, engineer, inventor, geographer, cartographer, artist, poet, statesman, and literary scholar.
- The Indian team also won a bronze for Global Challenge Match.
- The Indian team was led by 15-year-old Rahesh, the youngest member of the group. Other team members were Aadiv Shah – Team Spokesperson, Harsh Bhatt – Alliance Strategist, Vatsin – Alliance Analyst, Adhyyan – Robot Tactician, Tejas – Robot Controller and Raghav – Robot Driver.
- The ‘bot’ prepared by Indian team was called ‘neutrino’. It basically collected orange and blue balls from the ground and sorts them accordingly and also climbs up to 2.5 feet.
Afghanistan Team at FIRST Global Robotics Olympiad:
There was a proud moment for all-girl team from Afghanistan as they won the Rajaa Cherkaoui El Moursli award for courageous achievement.
- The award has been named after Rajaâ Cherkaoui El Moursli, a Moroccan Professor of nuclear physics. She won the L’Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science for her work on the Higgs Boson
- Afghan team members’ visas were denied twice by the US State department. However, due to a last-minute intervention by US President Donald Trump, they were able to arrive in US and participate in the competition.
About ‘FIRST Global’ Robotics Challenge
FIRST Global is a not-for-profit charity that organizes a yearly international robotics challenge to ignite a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) among more than two billion youths across the world.
- It provides the framework for an Olympics-style robotics challenge where one team from every nation is invited to participate in a global robotics event.
- ‘FIRST Global Challenge 2017’ organised in Washington D.C. was the inaugural edition of this robotics Olympiad in which 157 countries participated. The event will be held in different nations each year
- Mexico City in Mexico would host the competition next year.