New Delhi: Saturday’s medal ceremony at the National Games was a unique moment for the athletics event. With a considerable number of athletes and spectators present, everyone expected the ceremony to follow the traditional format. However, the scene soon changed completely. With a remote controller’s command, ‘Mauli Robot’ started moving, carrying a tray of medals and delivering them to the winners. The dignitaries then picked up the medals and placed them around the winners’ necks.
Host state Uttarakhand introduced this robotic innovation, leaving everyone pleasantly surprised. However, apart from athletics, all other events continued with the traditional method, where young women carried trays of medals. Since athletics has about 40 events, Sports Director Prashant Arya mentioned that ‘Mauli Robot’ would be used in most of these events for medal distribution.
Uttarakhand Police’s Drone Team Took the Spotlight
The idea of ‘Mauli Robot’ was developed by Uttarakhand Police’s drone team in collaboration with a private firm, D-Town Robotics. Team members Vipin Kumar, Deepankar Bisht, Prashant Chandra, Deepak Bisht, Abhishek Kumar, and Prajwal Rawat worked on this project for about one and a half months. While ‘Mauli Robot’ was used for the medal ceremony, another robot assisted in the discus throw event.
Olympian Manish Rawat remarked that this was the first time he had seen a robot being used in a medal ceremony.
“The Chief Minister had instructed that technological innovations should be a part of the National Games. That’s why we introduced this experiment with robotic technology. In athletics events like hammer throw, javelin throw, and discus throw, we are also using robotic technology to reduce human dependency.”
— Amit Sinha, CEO, National Games
“Apart from the athletes’ outstanding performances, the 38th National Games is showcasing many innovative initiatives to the entire nation. Technological advancements are now becoming a part of the National Games. Our goal is to leverage new technology to develop sports.”
— Pushkar Singh Dhami, Chief Minister
