<p>A team of 14 BTech students working with the Unmesh Mashruwala Innovation Cell (UMIC), IIT Bombay won the Asia Pacific regionals of Student Design Competition (SDC) organized by American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME). The team comprised of one fourth year student, two third year students and 11 freshmen. The team was guided by Prof. Abhishek Gupta from the Mechanical Engineering Department.</p><p>The competition was held in VIT, Vellore during Feb 1 to 3, 2019. This year’s problem statement was to make a robot capable of picking and placing balls of different diameters (ranging from ping pong to basketball) placed on a pipe 3-5 cm in diameter and 20 cm in height. There were 1 on 1 matches and the team with higher score won the round.</p><p>IIT Bombay came first in the competition in which a total of 21 teams, including IIT Roorkee, IIT Indore, 3 NITs, one international team from Hong Kong Polytechnic University and VIT participated. Second place was secured by VIT Vellore, which scored 24 points against 26 points of the team UMIC in the finals. </p><p>UMIC, IIT BOMBAY will now represent India and Asia-Pacific region in the world finals of ASME-SDC,19’ to be held in November 2019 in Utah, USA.<br />Previously, team UMIC has won the world finals of ASME-SDC, 17’. Apart from ASME-SDC, UMIC also participates in two other competitions - Mahindra RISE: Self Driving Car competition and International Aerial Robotics Competition.</p><p>The team is looking for new opportunities to help the society while participating in these competitions to get as much experience as they can and be sharp. Also, these kinds of competitions teach the students how to think in a stressful environment and make fast and good decisions when on the edge.</p>