Vadodara-based Rishiraj Behki (12) is a member of Team Zepto Rira-Heartz which cleared a rigorous elimination round in September to be crowned national champion. As such, the youngster will represent India at the World Robot Olympiad (WRO), scheduled to be staged (at the time of writing) from November 16-18 in Chiang Mai (Thailand). Teams from 64 countries worldwide are expected to participate. Organised annually by the World Robot Olympiad Association comprising over 60 member countries, the WRO (estb.2004) is staged in member countries on a rotating basis. Children are required to build robots and programme them to complete a given task in the fastest possible time. The younger child of Sunil Bekhi, a research analyst, and Hema, a homemaker, Rishiraj, a class VII student of Billabong High, Vadodara, has been engaged with computer programming and robotics ever since it was introduced to him at the Zepto Learning Institute, where his parents enrolled him three years ago. “A good working relationship with my partner Hriday Parikh, combined with the support and guidance of our mentor Mukesh Ganga Sagar Bind of Zepto Learning, has paid off. Winning and losing Olympiads is incidental. The importance of participating in WRO is that it encourages learning, innovation and improves technology management skills. All the preparation and practise invested in training for WRO is sure to pay off in our career paths after school,” says Rishiraj. This year’s national contest to select India’s winning team for WRO 2018 was based on the theme ‘Reduce food waste’. Contesting teams were required to build robots to sort food products according to their visual quality and expiry dates and transport the sorted food to destinations and target groups. Looking ahead, Rishiraj plans to compete in more international robotics competitions before getting busy with board exams. “I wish to further explore the world of robotics and design automated robots for the benefit of humanity,” he says. Wind in your sails! Sruthy Susan Ullas (Bangalore) Also read: Robotics evangelist: Sudhir Reddy
