Due to scheduling conflicts, APOGEE English Press (AEP) could not take an in-person interview with Ananya Krishna, the Team Manager of Team Robocon. The following interview was conducted over WhatsApp to learn more about Team Robocon’s work for the fest. 

Ananya explained that Team Robocon was a historical team that initially started to participate in a competition called ABU Robocon. Now, the team focuses on making automation solutions for various problems that governments face. It also makes robots that are used to participate in events such as ROBOWARS and Robosoccer. 

When asked about the upcoming fest, Ananya mentioned that the club planned to conduct Robosoccer, a robot competition where two teams would participate in a football match using robots—an attacker and a defender robot. The aim would be to score goals against the other team by manipulating the robots and the balls. Teams can use kicking, sliding or other mechanisms used in regular football matches and implement them to score. He further elaborated that the criteria for judging would be based on a round-robin format of matches of 3 minutes each. Apart from this, creativity points would be given to the teams before the matches would begin. He added that they were in discussions about live-streaming the event. Ananya claimed that the major event would attract a lot of attention as it had been conducted since the early editions of APOGEE with professional teams participating in it.

Regarding the preparations for the event, Ananya explained that the team was working on completing a competition-size arena, inviting multiple professional teams, and preparing their own robot for this competition. He added that most of the preparations were done, with only the arena and its streaming services unfinished with 10 days left to go for APOGEE.

When asked about any setbacks they faced, he said that due to the fest clashing with IIT Kanpur’s, they faced multiple scheduling issues with regard to inviting teams. Along with this, conducting the event at the scale that they used to was a huge concern due to budget constraints. 

Ananya said that his experience as a coordinator had been pretty hectic, having to manage his own schedule while working for the fest. He added that the “vibe” around this whole fest had been positive. On a parting note, he wished for the GBM to know that even though the team had not accomplished a lot in the last few years, its alumni network was pretty strong. He concluded by saying that they plan to accomplish a lot in the coming months with various competitions and showcases and would appreciate the GBM’s support and interest in joining the club.