World Robot Olympiad to be held for the first time in India

The 13th World Robot Olympiad will be held in India for the first time ever. It will be organised jointly by NCSM under the aegis of Ministry of Culture and India STEM Foundation (ISF) from 25 November to 27 November 2016 at the India Expo Mart, Greater Noida.

More than 2000 students from 54 countries will participate in the event to find innovative ways, using robotic technology, to reduce, manage and recycle waste.

The theme for the 13th World Robot Olympiad is Rap the Scrap. The theme is in line with 'Swachh Bharat Mission' of the Indian government. The theme suggests students to Rap (talk) about waste – an important social issue. The students are expected to come up with innovative ideas using robotics technology to ‘Rap the Scrap’ i.e. to reduce, manage and recycle waste.

About World Robot Olympiad

• The World Robot Olympiad is a global robotics competition for young people.

• It uses Lego Mindstorms manufactured by LEGO Education.

• The competition was first held in 2004 in Singapore.

• It was formally established in the year 2003.

• China, Japan, Singapore and Korea are considered the founding countries of the competition.

• It consists of 4 different categories, Regular, College, Open and Soccer.

• For the Regular and Open categories, it consists of three different age groups: Elementary, Junior High and Senior High. Participants below the age of 13 are considered as Elementary, participants from ages 13 until 16 years old are considered Junior High and participants between 17 and 19 are considered Senior High.

• The 12th World Robot Olympiad was held in Doha, Qatar in November 2015. The theme for the year was 'Robot Explorers'.

• In 2017, the World Robot Olympiad will be held in Costa Rica.