13th World Robot Olympiad begins in India

The two-day 13th World Robot Olympiad began on Saturday at the India Expo Mart in Greater Noida. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said “fostering innovation and creativity amongst youth is a key priority for the government”, a release said. The two-day event – from November 26-27, on the theme ‘Rap the Scrap,’ is being jointly organised by National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) under the aegis of Ministry of Culture, Government of India and India STEM Foundation (ISF). It would see over 2,000 students from across 51 countries participating in the event to depict their skills and showcase their innovative prototypes using robotic technology, to reduce, manage and recycle waste that we generate daily. Addressing the gathering, Sharma said: “We are happy to see so many enthusiastic teams across all age groups here and we hope their skills will play an important role in addressing real world problems in the future.” The competition is being held for students in the 9-25 years age group in four categories – Regular category (Elementary, Junior High, Senior High), WRO Football, Open category and Advanced Robotics Challenge. “I believe this competition will spread awareness about Robotics education and build an ecosystem of STEM based hands-on learning education in India,” said A.S. Manekar, Director General at NCSM. “The World Robot Olympiad provides a platform for thousands of brilliant and aspiring young minds to come together and inspire one another in their attempts to address real world issues,” added Law King Hui, Chairman, WRO Advisory Council. IANS