The APOGEE English Press sat down with Kartik Agrawal, the coordinator of Team Robocon to talk about their work.

Kartik explained that their interpretation of the fest theme was on the basis of ‘distributed computing systems coming together to form an intelligent system’. This ties into the concept of their event, Robo-League, where teams of two or three unique, wheeled-robots compete in a ten-minute soccer match on a miniature field. Participating teams are expected to both build and control these robots. 

The team also hosts the Robocon Exhibition where they showcase various projects in progress, which include a drone and a prototype quadruped this year.

Kartik shared that they faced problems getting teams to participate in the event, either due to the remote location of Pilani or ‘prize money issues’. Elaborating on the latter, he cited a few instances in the past where the prize money had not been distributed. “Robotics is a quite costly process and the prize money has to be something that they can gain something out of their investments,” he added. He also expressed his concern regarding freshers gravitating towards the IT industry rather than ‘actually building something’.

He concluded by encouraging the students to inculcate a culture for building things and participate in various events.