Smart Cities are not only what the Government of India and others talking about but these days, school going children too are being seen discussing it very seriously. Reason- World Robot Olympiad India is back and this time with the theme ‘SMART Cities’.

The Central Board of Secondary Education has already released a circular to its affiliated schools regarding same. According to few schools, students are gearing up for World Robot Olympiad India, the international level of which is going to be held in the month of November in Hungary this year.

Not very much willing to be quoted, a CBSE official said, “Since the key objectives of the Olympiad are to build scientific temperament and 21^st Century Skills in the students, this will be beneficial for the students. It is the need of the hour that students are given proper training in such skills after developing scientific temperament in them. The Olympiad also aims to foster an eco-system of tinkering with the vision of promoting innovative skills and creative thinking, when it comes to the students. The theme also talks about Smart Cities which will further focus on developing new devices and strengthening wireless technologies.”

Arjun Bhardwaj, Technical Head, India, World Robot Olympiad India told Thestatesman.com, “More than 70 countries are taking part in the competition (16^th edition) and those who win in India, will be participating in the international round in the month of November in Hungary. Teams of a maximum of three students can take part in the competition.”

The India STEM Foundation is jointly organising the competition. According to Bhardwaj, this is India’s largest International Robotics Competition. He said this year’s theme is SMART Cities which talks about the current technology and many other things.  The topic has been chosen to spread more and more awareness about ‘SMART Cities’ among the students.

Bhardwaj added, “There are mainly four categories-WRO Open, WRO Regular, WRO Football and WRO Advanced Robotics Challenge. A team should consist of a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 3 members with one adult coach.”

The statement by WRO India says that all members of a particular team must belong to same age group. Among other points are going for lego-controller parts, and, Hitechnic colour sensors to be used to build the Robot. Any controller, sensor or material can be used Software. Robot of a maximum size should be with initial size 25cm x25cmx25cm made of lego parts. These are meant for the regular category. Those who are interested in the Open category, can check the website. The last date for registration is July 10, 2019.