A team from Ahmedabad has won the Indian final of the ABU’s popular annual robot contest, ABU Robocon 2022.

The team of engineering students from the Institute of Technology, Nirma University, triumphed in the final on 17 July, hosted by public broadcaster Doordarshan and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

They and a second team, from the Government College of Engineering and Research, Avasari Khurd, Pune, will represent India in the grand final on 21 August.

Thirteen teams from across the Asia-Pacific will compete in the grand final, hosted by Doordarshan in New Delhi on 21 August and held online.

Teams from Cambodia, China, Egypt, Fiji, Hong Kong-China, India (two teams as host), Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal and Thailand will take part in the online contest through Zoom.

This year the contest is based on Lagori, an ancient game originating in southern India. Each team must build a Seeker Robot and Hitter Robot to compete. Each game consists of two rounds and ends in three minutes.

In the first round, Seeker throws balls to knock down five layers of Lagori discs in the centre of the field within 15 seconds. The opponent team who is Hitter throws six balls to remove balls on top of platforms located in four different spots within 45 seconds. Then back to Seeker, who will be given whatever time the opponent took to remove four balls or a maximum of 45 seconds to rebuild the Lagori layers. The teams reverse roles in the second round.

DDI is planning to live broadcast the contest on their sports channel and live stream on YouTube so that all the Robocon fans around the world can enjoy the exciting ABU Robocon 2022.