Support Team India for European Robotic Championship - FLL OEC 2016

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Why am I fundraising?

A team of seven Robotic enthusiasts, between the ages of 12 and 16 and hailing from Pune, Maharashtra have won the opportunity to represent India at the European Robotics Championship (FLL-OEC 2016).

They qualified for this opportunity by;
a. Winning the "Champions Award" at the FLL 2015 Regional Competition by qualifying;
* 1st in Robot Design
* 1st in Robot Performance
* 1st in Teamwork, and
* 2nd in Project

and,

b. Being judged in the "top 5" across India at the FLL 2015 National Championships by;
* obtaining a perfect score for Robot Design, and
* qualifying 2nd in Robot Performance

The team requires funding to the tune of Rs.10,00,000 (US$20,000) towards travel and accommodation in Tenerife

FLL is an international robotic competition, where over 300,000 kids from around 80 countries participate. The theme for the FLL 2015 competition was "TrashTrek" where participants explore the fascinating world of trash - from collection, to sorting, to smart production, and reuse. For their project, the team focused on the reduction in the use of plastics.

Collectively, the team has invested over 2,500 hours in the 4 months of their own time in the past 4 months, after school and between home work and other chores to achieve their winning position.

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23rd June 2016

Dear Supporters,

The FLL-OEC this year was held at the ‘Tenerife International Centre for Trade Fairs and Congress’, Tenerife, Spain. The venue occupies over 40,000 sq. meters. There were 116 teams consisting about 900 children from 40 countries and five continents participating in the three-day event. The team representing India, HorcruXes, was up against teams from countries like Germany, UK, Netherlands, Australia, etc.

Chris Bastianpillai, the mentor of the HorcruXes, was one of the volunteer judges, giving him a chance to interact closely with the teams and other judges from around the globe.

Every year, real world-problems like food safety, recycling, etc., are the themes of the competition. This year’s theme was based around Trash Trek. Problems related to trash collection and sorting had to be tackled. The kids had to build robots using Lego Mindstorms technology and then compete on a table-top playing field.

The competition is divided into three sections; Robot Design, Project and Core Values; and a live robot run. In Robot Design, judges look for bots that are innovative and display a consistent navigational capability. Teams also have to prepare a presentation on the theme prior to the competition in the Project section. In Core Values, the judges assess how the teams work together to solve tasks.

The team HorcruXes consisted seven enthusiastic kids - Avani Malaviya, the only girl and the team’s programmer, and the other members Kanish Thiagarajan, Piyush Kolhatkar, Deep Lalwani, Harsh Savergaonkar, Siddharth Thiagarajan, and Aditya Potnis. The HorcruXes started preparing for FLL months in advance by working with Lego Mindstorms, which is, in essence, a series of kits containing software and hardware to build programmable and customisable bots. These kits are equipped with a computer for controlling the bot, sensors and motors and Lego parts to create a full-fledged mechanical system.

The HorcruXes did extremely well in securing the 11th place in ’Robot Performance’ with a score of 759 (out of a possible 891 for their robot). They were also nominated for the ’Mechanical Design’, ’Project Research’, and ’Gracious Professionalism’ awards. They came within the top 10 in each of these categories. Robominds was also nominated for the ’Coach's Award’ for being within the top five. "Unfortunately, the Spanish authorities couldn’t provide us with the actual overall ranking. Considering that this was their first time competing against international teams, their accomplishment is a matter of pride for us," says Chris.

All the members of team HorcruXes believe that they learnt valuable lessons at the FLL. “Preparing for FLL and participating in the competition boosted my confidence. I also learnt how to understand and solve problems related to robotics,” says Harsh. While young Potnis believes that being involved in finding solutions to problems in a real-life scenario was better than learning from books.

We wish that Chris and team participate again and achieve an even better position and make our country proud.

8th April 2016

Dear Friends,

I am happy to inform you that we were featured on The Better India and the DNA Pune. Thank you for your continued support! However, for this International Competition we still need around 9 Lakhs to cover the costs that include travel and accommodation for the 4 days of the competition in Spain.

These kids have invested over 2,500 hours in the past few months apart from time spent in school and on other chores to prepare, win and qualify for this competition.

Please contribute and extend your support by spreading the word. This will help these bunch of kids showcase their skills in front of almost 80 countries.

Thank you!