Project MANAS – Grand Prize Winners of IGVC 2019

Project MANAS from Manipal Institute of Technology secured the 1st place at the 27th Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC)-2019, held at Oakland University, Michigan, USA from June 7th to 10th. The team consisted of 12 bright-eyed Engineering students, whose bot ‘SOLO’ was able to outshine its competitors from top universities from around the world. The positions MANAS achieved in the sub-challenges were: 1st in Interoperability Profile Challenge, 2nd in Design Challenge and 6th in Cyber Security – with a total of 44 accrued points. They emerged victorious, winning the Grand Prize, beating IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras who placed second and third respectively.

Project MANAS was among the 35 international teams like DTU, Hosei University, Georgia Tech, United States Military Academy and others to fight their way to the top and win the prize – which is awarded to the team with the highest cumulative score. An amount of 19,650 dollars was spent on the project, from design to testing. The bot took six months of dedicated hard work as well. Unexpected hurdles came in the way of the passionate team, from torrential rain to motor failures, but it did not stop them from working long hours to keep the bot up and running.

Project MANAS’ triumph ultimately goes to the team’s credibility and the University’s support.

Started in 1993, the IGVC is an Annual Robotics Competition that has garnered international participation. Students from various universities are put to the test by performing in challenges focused on autonomous ground vehicles. MANAS was fortunate to win in their second attempt and was the second team from India to win first place – the first being IIT Bombay in the 25th Annual IGVC in 2017.

MANAS stands for Higher Intelligence and the team is working towards pushing the boundaries of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Apart from IGVC, the team has eyes on Mahindra Rise Prize Challenge to build India’s first Driverless Car.

Written by Shreemoyee Roychoudhury for MTTN