A conversation with Robocon-India contestants!
This is Prasanna Deshpande, I work as an Application Engineer at MathWorks Inc. For last few years I have loved the experience of working with Robocon India participants. This year, I would like to reach a wider audience with this blog. Here, I will share my thoughts, resources and discussion points.
What is Robocon and how is MathWorks involved?
Robocon (short for Robotic Contest) is organised by Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), a collection of over 20 countries of Asia Pacific Region [1]. Participating teams are expected to design and fabricate their own robots and organize their teams including an Instructor, Team Leader, Manual Robot Operator and an Automatic Robot Operator. Each year a new challenge is announced by the organizing body. National level competitions take place to pick a team that represents the country. In India, Mumbai Kendra of Doordarshan has been organising National Robocon since 2005 with support from co-hosts MIT Group of Educational Institutes. MathWorks has been involved as a sponsor for Robocon-India for last few years. Participating teams get free access to MathWorks tools along with a chance to win the MathWorks Robocon prize in addition to the Robocon award.
The final round is a brilliant show of technical expertise, team spirit and high-energy support from the audience. Every single year, I look forward to the D day. See a teaser from last year:
Let's start building and sharing!
It's been a few weeks since the release of the 2017 theme! What have you been up to? Do share your comments or questions. This year’s ABU Robocon will be held in 2017 Tokyo. Robocon, India will be organized and hosted by MIT AOE, Pune. This year the theme is "Asobi: the Landing Disc". The theme revolves around the word “asobi” (play), which is also a fundamental philosophy behind Robocon. In “asobi,” playful, unique, original show of skills is often more important than winning or losing, as everyone – friend and foe alike – can applaud and enjoy them [1]. Check out the following video that outlines the challenge:
We have gone through the rule book and identified key components that you will need irrespective of the system design. My next blog post will be about these key components and related resources. We will also share relevant projects from the MATLAB Central community.
For now, I will leave you with some basic resources and discussion points. Would love to hear from you!
Resources for Robocon India 2017 [1]
- Rule Book "Asobi: The Landing Disc"
- National ROBOCON 2017 Registration Form\
- Where and how to buy the soft saucers
- Video playlist from ABU Robocon
MathWorks Resources (more on the way!)
References:
[1] Robocon India website: http://www.roboconindia.com/