The students spend close to 15 hours in their workshop in Juhu, perfecting a robot that can maneuver through a 12-foot maze, gather scattered objects and throw balls into tall cylinders.
Nine students from six different schools in Mumbai are building a robot for a competition that'll take them to Australia. The competition requires that the robot manoeuvres through a 12-foot maze, gather scattered objects and throw balls into tall cylinders. At stake -- a scholarship worth $13.5 million, which the team will share.
The prestigious FIRST Tech Challenge, is an internationally acclaimed robotics programme that aims to engage students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It was founded in the USA in 1989.
"The challenge is very complex," said 17-year-old Mihir Shah, a member of the team that calls itself the 'R-factor'. "There have been days when we have stayed up for 38 hours at a stretch trying to perfect the mechanism."
For starters, the robot needed wheels that will turn 360 degrees, allowing it to travel in all directions. There had to be a mechanism that would allow to vary its length too. "The robot has to gather the balls and throw them into baskets placed at different heights, but baskets are at a height of 120 centimetres and the robot is not supposed to be more than 45cm," added team member Shrey Turakia.
The students, who were picked after a rigorous system of regional and national competitions, spend close to 15 hours in their workshop in Juhu. "Everybody has a different skill so we came together to build the best robot," said another member, Shubhankar Pandha.
The team was chosen from the cream of Mumbai's Children's Technology Workshop institute - they had been participating in different robotics competitions, often competing against each other. But for this project, they decided to come together.
"We have also organised a competition for younger students to promote robotics. We will train them and help them participate in junior level competitions," said Arvind Ranganathan, another student.