Robot can

Different engineering colleges of the city like the Sinhaghad Institute of Technology (SIT),Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT),along with MIT participate in the competition that showcases the dedication of the students to the world of technology. Students in the city literally burn the midnight oil on their robot designs apart from their college and usual workload for the fest and are immensely optimistic about their success.

Ankit Kumar along with Avinash Kumar and Ankit Shukla,of MIT,who are currently working on an autonomous module of robots for the competition,says,“We have been taught theoretical things about different processes and machinery involved in functioning of robots,but translation of this into actually making robots is a tough ask,” says Shukla.

He adds on later that the consistent support of faculties in the college helps him to work on his assignment. On the condition of anonymity,one of the robotic participants from SIT says “I am participating in this event since the last two years and am currently working on an ongoing project for autonomous Robots with a theme based on fuel conservation and environment friendly alternatives”.

Even though there are initial challenges that are faced by almost every student right from finding the appropriate sensors to power supply and non-co-operating DC motors and many other technical things. S G Kulkarni,associate professor and coordinator of Robocon festival at MIT says “Initially,seven years back when the event started there were hardly any local teams participating in the event but now the fest has grown by leaps and bound starting back from 19 participation to 56 last year”.

Stressing on the theme of the event,Kulkarni feels that,this time they have focused on the Pyramid building technology that has two teams building their robots simultaneously,and their performance will be judged by looking at different facets of their module and inputs like weight and time constraints.

Emphasising on dedication and passion which is imperative for technological prosperity,Sumeet Gupta,the leader of present robotic team of VIT says,“We are participating in the event since 2007 and since then students of our college have earned numerous accolades by pounding the country’s premier institutions like IIT,Mumbai,Nirma Institute of Technology and many others”