A team from India, including Sai Pranav Gandhi from Goa, showcased an outstanding performance, and bagged 4th position among 192 nations at the annual international robotic competition ‘FIRST Global Challenge’ held in Athens from September 26-29
A group of talented students selected from across the country to represent India delivered outstanding performance at the ‘FIRST Global Challenge’ (FGC) 2024, an annual international robotics competition held from September 26-29 in Athens. The Indian team that had a student from Goa, Sai Pranav Gandhi, secured an impressive 4th position overall and also won the Zhang Heng Engineering Design Award (Bronze) which recognises teams that demonstrate exceptional engineering excellence, creativity, and innovative problem-solving in their robot design. In the semi finals Team India performed exceedingly with the alliance teams of Greece, Columbia and Latvia scoring 594 points in four matches and was ranked 4th amongst 192 countries globally.
“This experience has been incredible,” said Sai Pranav Gandhi, a member of Team India from Goa who participated in the contest. "We learned so much from other teams and made lifelong connections. FGC showed us how technology can be used to solve real-world problems and make a positive impact," he stated. Along with Sai Pranav, there were Aarav Shah, Aarav Gupta, Arjun Kejriwal, Jayanee Shah, Aditi Shah, Arjun Kejriwal, Aryaman Kejriwal, Mann Parekh, Meher Choudhary and Neel Mistry from Mumbai. The Indian team was mentored by Nilesh Shah and Saieesh Gandhi who is from Goa. "In 2023, a team from Goa had represented India at the FGC and had won four awards," recalled Gandhi.
Aadiv Shah who participated in the inaugural season of the FIRST Global Championship in 2017 at Washington DC, returned to mentor Team India by helping the team make the Cascade Elevator consistently perform and raise the morale of the team high with each of their matches. His presence with the team infused new energy and enthusiasm and had a positive impact on the team performance.
Parul Shah mentored the team for all their outreach activities guiding the team to go beyond robotics and imbibe life skills. She was the go to person for the team to prepare for all the pit interviews.
FGC focussed on focused on the theme ‘Feeding the Future’ where teams designed robots to address global food security issues. Aimed at inspiring young people to apply STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills to solve pressing global challenges, the FGC saw participants from 193 nations. The event promotes collaboration, innovation, and the development of technological solutions to real-world problems.
The opening ceremony was held on September 26, teams from over 190 countries gathered at the Panathenaic Stadium for an unforgettable evening. The Panathenaic Stadium is the place where the stadium was built for the first of the modern Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens, Greece. The Parade of Nations, followed by an outstanding performance by the ‘Black Eyed Peas’ marking the beginning of this incredible journey. Team India dressed in traditional outfits, offered its traditional welcome with a Namaste to the crowd.
The Team India booth, decorated with traditional Indian garlands, displayed the journey of the team with posters, banners and pamphlets. Dean Kamen, the founder of FGC visited the stall with Peter H Diamandis, founder of X prize. “India should host the future edition of FGC,” said Kamen.
The theme of the competition was ‘Feeding the Future.’ The teams manoeuvre their robot in a simulated world that emphasises the intricate and interdependent relationship between water, energy, and food systems, while carefully managing and balancing global resources to support a sustainable food system.
The robot was coloured orange consistent to the theme of Team India and was the centrepiece of attraction. The process of colouring employed was an industrial process called anodising in which parts are dipped in chemical solution and a voltage is applied.
As part of pre competition outreach Team India advocated to declare Robotics as sport with the government of Goa and submitted petitions to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, director of Sports Arvind Khutkar and director of Education, Shailesh Zingade.
