Finalist of HRATC 2016 Challenge conducted as part of ICRA 2016, the biggest conference in Robotics and Automation field

Robotics Startups from Kerala enters finals of Landmine defusing challenge at world's biggest Robotics conference

Team Autobots, a collaboration of two Cochin robotics startups, Qbotics Labs and Sastra Robotics has reached the finals of the Humanitarian Robotics and Automation Technology Challenge (H.R.A.T.C), which is a part of the biggest and most prestigious robotics conference in the world organised by Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). The International Conference of Robotics and Automation (ICRA 2016) brings together the brightest scientists and researchers working with cutting edge robotics, and is happening at Stockholm, Sweden from May 16th to 21st .Team Autobots, from Kerala is one among top 4 teams worldwide who made into the finals of the challenge and is the team with the leading score. Team Autobots comprises of expert engineers from Qbotics Labs, which specializes in robotics research and Sastra Robotics who specializes in robotic arms for testing of devices. The members of the team are Lentin Joseph ( CEO/Founder, Qbotics Labs) who is leading the team, Achu Wilson (C.T.O/Co-Founder,Sastra Robotics) and Chandy Kunju Alex( Robotics Engineer, Sastra Robotics).

News about the challenge in native language(Malayalam)

The Humanitarian Robotics and Automation Technology Challenge (H.R.A.T.C) is to find and defuse hidden unexploded landmines in an area, autonomously using a robot without human intervention. According to the UN Mine Action Service landmines kill 15,000-20,000 people every year (mostly children) and maim countless more across 78 countries. Demining efforts cost US$ 300-1000 per mine, and, for every 5000 mines cleared, one person is killed and two are injured. The competition try to find best software solutions to avoid and defuse mines using a robot called Husky.
There are three phases in the challenge. The first algorithm phase involves teams proposing ingenious algorithms to tackle the challenge. The shortlisted teams enters the second phase called simulation phase, which involves implementation of the proposed algorithm on the robotic simulator Gazebo using software platform Robot Operating System(R.O.S). Teams who performs best in simulation phase enters the testing phase, in which the algorithm runs on the real robot itself. The testing phase is the final phase and team Autobots leads with the top score.  It is actually a proud moment for Indian Robotics startups to get these kinds of international achievements.