The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Saturday joined hands to organise the first ever UN-based educational robotics championship in India in October this year.

The Robotics for Good Youth Challenge 2024-2025 is a global initiative of the ITU, as part of AI for Good, the UN platform on artificial intelligence (AI).

The event, to be organised by IIT Delhi’s technology innovation hub IHFC, will put Indian students and their robotics expertise on the global map. It also looks at targeting students to offer robotic solutions for disaster management, which is a critical focus area across the world.

The challenge is designed for two age groups — Junior (Class 6-8) and Senior (Class 9-12) — where the participants will get to design, build, and programme a robot that completes a mission based on promoting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The focus is on Robotics for Good, emphasising addressing natural disasters like earthquakes, seismic risk prediction, and soil and subsurface studies. The primary objective is to enable swift intervention during disasters to effectively minimise their impact.

An India qualifying tournament will be held on October 17 at the International Exhibition Convention Centre in Delhi, before a qualifying tournament leading to the grand finale in Geneva during the AI for Good Global Summit 2025.

IHFC aims to handhold the participants, foster innovation in their robotics for good creation, and train them to create something sustainable for managing disasters.