Cognizance - Robowar

This photo was taken inside the arena at IIT Roorkee. My robot was destroyed. I'm still smiling. 😄

It started in my 2nd year of college. A junior was participating in a robowar event on our campus. I watched for 5 minutes — and something switched inside me. I called my friend Navneet — B.Tech Mechanical, I was B.Tech CS — and said: "Hum bhi kuch aisa banayenge."

Neither of us had done this before. Neither of us had the money. But we had one rule from day one: "Ghar se ek rupaya extra nahi lena." So we cut everything. Expenses. Outings. Sometimes meals too — not because we had to, but because we chose to. That robot mattered more than a meal that day. It was our decision. Our pride.

We found out IIT Roorkee's Cognizance was hosting robowar — 15kg and 30kg categories. Two broke college students entered both. We built 4 robots. Somehow. We even brought a drone — thinking more entries = more winning chances. 😅 We didn't know there was a rulebook. We brought a manual drone to an autonomous drone event. Disqualified. First lesson learned. 😂

Then Robowar started. 15kg category — we won our first match. Then real opponents came. I watched my robot flip in the air and get completely destroyed.

Then Navneet said — "Chal, 30 robot ki battery charge karte hain." No spare parts. No extra batteries. Shifting electronics between robots between matches.

First 30kg match — against one of the most reputed teams in India. Full weapon bots. Experienced team. We had a mild steel wedge robot and nothing to lose. We won. We kept pushing. We kept winning. Semifinals. Lost.

3rd place — Cognizance, IIT Roorkee. 🏆

We named the team Karmayodha Bots. Karma — I've always believed in it. Yodhya — a warrior. Always ready to defend and destroy. Today when we walk into an arena — teams still say: "Karmayodha Bots aa gaye." ⚔️

To every student reading this — You don't need money. You don't need the best equipment. You just need that one moment that switches something inside you.