iWorld
Indian student teams win robotics challenge with public health solutions
57 teams from 14 states compete at IMC 2026 as junior and senior winners earn places at Geneva finale in June 2027
MUMBAI: When public health meets robot power, the next generation gets a chance to put its ingenuity to the test. Six student teams have emerged as winners of the Robotics for Good Youth Challenge India 2026–2027, building autonomous robots designed to tackle challenges in emergency healthcare.
Organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Ministry of Communications, with support from the I-Hub Foundation for Cobotics (IHFC), the Technology Innovation Hub at IIT Delhi, the national challenge was held on 10 October on the sidelines of India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2026 at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi.
The competition brought together 57 teams, 28 in the junior category and 29 in the senior category involving around 300 students and mentors from 14 states. Participants aged 10 to 18 designed, built and programmed autonomous robots to respond to public health emergencies, with missions linked to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3, focused on good health and well-being.
The tasks included extracting and delivering samples, constructing quarantine zones, distributing medical kits and carrying out medical triage. In other words, students had to turn code, circuits and mechanical design into practical solutions for situations where speed and precision can matter.
In the senior category, Team Ferrum Incubators from Cambridge School, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, secured first place. Team Mech Minds from Lions Calcutta Greater Vidya Mandir, West Bengal, finished first runner-up, followed by Team Botics Alpha from Vidya Pratishthan’s Magarpatta City Public School, Maharashtra.
In the junior category, Team Singularity from Gopalan International School, Karnataka, won the competition. Team Veda Velocity from MSB Education Institute, Pune, took the first runner-up position, while Team Vajra from IgnAlte Robotics LLP, Uttar Pradesh, finished second runner-up.
The closing and award ceremony also recognised teams for design, innovation and creative thinking. The winners in both categories will represent India at the international grand finale in Geneva, Switzerland, during the AI for Good Global Summit in June 2027.
The road to the national competition began with registrations from 10 to 25 August 2026. Awareness and orientation programmes followed from 7 to 16 September, when teams also submitted design documents and videos for the preliminary round.
A practice day on 9 October allowed participants to test their robots on the competition game board, identify weaknesses and refine their strategies. The national event on 10 October then progressed through two qualifying rounds, a knockout round and the final.
The challenge is part of the ITU’s AI for Good programme and aims to make robotics accessible beyond students who can afford expensive equipment. By encouraging the use of free software and hardware, the initiative seeks to widen participation while promoting teamwork, project planning, problem-solving under pressure and responsible, sustainable robot design.
The event was inaugurated by Atul Sinha, director general of the National Communications Academy-Technology at DoT. Bilel Jamoussi, deputy director and chief of the Study Groups and Policy Department at ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, delivered the welcome address.
Other speakers included Ashutosh Dutt Sharma, chief executive officer of IHFC; Rama Krishna K, assistant professor in IIT Delhi’s Department of Mechanical Engineering; and Atman Jadon, co-founder and CEO of Superceuticals.
The closing ceremony featured remarks by Jamoussi, Ananda Raj Khanal, head of ITU’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific; Mukesh Kumar, deputy director general for international relations at DoT; and Professor Subir Kumar Saha, project director at IHFC. Diksha Dhiman, assistant director executive trainee in AI and DIU at DoT, also led a session on safe cyberspace. Hemendra Kumar Sharma, counsellor and technical expert at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, attended the award distribution, while Piyush Prasad, vice-president and head of IHFC, delivered the vote of thanks.
India’s partnership with ITU on the challenge began in 2024, when the first edition was held during the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly hosted by India. Subsequent editions took place at IMC 2025 and IMC 2026, extending the initiative’s reach across schools and the technology ecosystem.
For the young participants, the next stop is Geneva. Their robots have been tested on a national stage; the next challenge will be to show how Indian student innovation can contribute to solving real-world problems on a global one.
