In November 2019, I participated in MakeX, an international robotics competition held in Guangzhou, China that promotes multidisciplinary learning of young people within the field of science and technology. It aims at building a world where STEAM education is highly appreciated and where young people are passionate about innovation.
The month before, I worked hard daily on building the robot. This was a very demanding task, which is why I found it very enjoyable as it allowed me to realise my passion for solving engineering challenges under a time constraint which helped me understand how to manage my time better and delegate crucial tasks.
Since the competition was relatively new on the international level, there was no past participant to ask guidance from, and hence everything had to be done from scratch – from the ideation to the manufacturing. I had to make my own base to build off of. Surprisingly, this did not make the process a bigger challenge; Instead, it gave me complete freedom to tinker around with the raw materials as much as I wanted, discovering and applying new and old concepts on my own, and learning much more than I would have otherwise without the unlimited potential to make errors.
If I were to describe each robot’s function in a simplified manner, it would consist of a high-speed foam ball shooter, a loader to pick up foam balls, a movement system, and a pin grabber.
The challenge itself consisted of four unique modes: Automatic, when the robot functioned on preset commands, Manual, when two members of the team would control the robot, Modification, when the team could add anything on top of the robot in half a minute as the height restriction was removed, and Final, when the round would be concluded and the last scoring points would be taken.
The objective was to pick up foam balls placed on your side of the arena, then firing them onto the opposition’s pins and knocking down as many of them as possible. The opposing team would also do the same, at which point one could defend their pins and return the same foam projectiles. In addition, teams had the option of shifting yellow pins to a safe zone for extra points, and placing their team flag in a raised cup. At the end of each match, points would be totalled and the winning team would move on to the next round.
At the national level in Mumbai, I had to fix last-minute crises during the competition, but against all odds our robot functioned as intended and my team won the best innovation award (for our superior ball loader which doubled as a storage mechanism, along with our pin protector shield.) and qualified in the top 3 to represent India at the International finals in Guangzhou, where I was exposed to a large array of mindblowing technologies and advanced robots that were created by teams from over 90+ countries across the globe who shared their ideas and cultures on a common platform, leading to a unique kind of learning which I have brought back to equip me for future STEAM competitions. Unfortunately, my team did not get far at this stage, but with the years of experience and excellent robots the native participants had, it was satisfying to have been able to compete with them.
It was an honour to participate in MakeX which was more than just a STEAM competition to represent my nation and identity. It was a learning experience which incorporated the development of cooperative abilities in a team, handling stress in dire situations, application of theoretical learning in practical situations and much more.