a leading provider of innovative technology based learning solutions for schools and YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector Bank, partner with FIRST Global to encourage and mentor students from India, participating in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Global Robotics Olympiad at Washington, D.C. from 16 – 18 July.First Global is organizing an annual ‘Olympics’ stylerobotics competition, aimed at generating interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) among youth from 160 countries. This competition was chiefly organized in North America and this is the first year when participation has been opened to other countries, India being one of the 160 participating countries. The idea behind organizing this competition is to drive youth to innovate and create technology led solutions for Global social issues such as access to safe and clean drinking water.
Team India is represented by seven enthusiastic students from schools such as Jamnabai Narsee School, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Utpal Shanghvi School, Oberoi International School and Ecole Mondiale World School. The team was shortlisted from over 100 applications received.
Commenting on the partnership, Rana Kapoor, Managing Director and CEO, YES BANK, said, “As we build aninnovation and technology led economy of the future, it is crucial for us to invest in STEM learning among our nation’s youth. At YES BANK, we have taken the lead in adopting the A.R.T. (Alliances, Relationships, Technology) approach, by co-creating innovative solutions with technology companies. We are certain that such youth centric initiatives will go a long way in creating awareness on pertinent social issues such as access to clean water while also building an enabling environment to develop the future leaders of our nation.”
Nirav Khambhati, CEO of Tata ClassEdge, supporting this initiative said, “We are happy to be associated with the FIRST Global Robotics Olympics which is being held for the first time across countries. It is an excellent platform to inspire students to learn, think, imagine and use technology creatively. The Olympics will not only boost their confidence but also provide an opportunity to meet bright youngsters from all over the world.”
Gagan Goyal, India team President, said, “This is a great platform for students to showcase not just their talent and creativity, but it puts India on the global STEM leadership map over the next decade, or even more!We are grateful to the support we have received from leading corporate houses like Tata Sons, Tata ClassEdge, YES Bank and Infosys in making a dream come true for our bright young minds.”
Team India: Rahesh, Team Captain (youngest team member); Aadiv Shah, Team Spokesperson; Harsh Bhatt, Alliance Strategist; Vatsin, Alliance Analyst; Adhyyan, Robot Tactician; Tejas, Robot Controller and Raghav, Robot Driver.
The mission of FIRST Global is to inspire science and technology leadership and innovation in youthgloballyin order to increase understanding, impress upon the importance of cooperation, address the world’s most pressing issues and improve the quality of life for all. The FIRST Global Challenge this year will address the theme ‘Provide Access to Clean Water’.
About YES BANK
YES BANK, India’s fourth largest private sector Bank with a pan India presence across all 29 states and 7 Union Territories of India, headquartered in the Lower Parel Innovation District (LPID) of Mumbai, is the outcome of the professional & entrepreneurial commitment of its Founder Rana Kapoor and its Top Management team, to establish a high quality, customer centric, service driven, private Indian Bank catering to the future businesses of India.
YES BANK has adopted international best practices, the highest standards of service quality and operational excellence and offers comprehensive banking and financial solutions to all its valued customers.
YES BANK has a knowledge driven approach to banking and offers a superior customer experience for its retail, corporate and emerging corporate banking clients. YES BANK is steadily evolving as the Professionals’ Bank of India with the long term mission of becoming “INDIA’s FINEST QUALITY BIG BANK by 2020”.
About Tata ClassEdge
Tata ClassEdge provides an innovative and comprehensive instructional solution that empowers teachers to teach better, with an effective blend of curriculum-mapped classroom activities and interactive technology. Tata ClassEdge’s proprietary instructional framework, the Multiple Learning Experiences (MLEx™) model, makes use of distinct types of activities that promote social and thinking skills in students, including critical thinking, creativity, teamwork, research-orientation and communication skills. More than 70,000 teachers across India have already adopted the Tata ClassEdge way of teaching.
About FIRST Global Challenge
This year’s robotics challenge will reflect how we need to cooperate as a global society to solve the water crisis. Teams representing different countries will be organized into two competing alliances, each alliance composed of three national teams that rearrange into different alliances for each match. These alliances are tasked with accomplishing engineering tasks such as the storing of drinkable water, filtering of contaminated water, and procuring of new sources water. Pollutants in the water will need to be separated, and clean water will need to be brought to each team’s reservoir within the allotted time. There will also be a group task at the end of each round where all teams will work together to accomplish a common goal. Therefore, FIRST Global competitors will need to design their robot to: (1) complete a variety of engineering tasks focused on “access to clean water”; and (2) best cooperate in international robot alliances that have a variety of skills to accomplish these tasks because alliance that cooperate the best will be most prepared to succeed.
