FROM CLASSROOM CIRCUITS TO NATIONAL ARENAS: HOW TEAM ‘ASTRA’ FROM SRMS ENGINEERING COLLEGE IS BUILDING THE FUTURE OF ROBOTICS

At SRMS College of Engineering & Technology (CET), Bareilly, innovation goes beyond laboratories, it comes alive through students who build, compete, and create technology that earns national recognition.

The academic session 2025–26 has been a landmark year for the Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering (ECE), where young innovators transformed their passion for robotics into remarkable achievements. Their combat robot “ASTRA” has emerged as a symbol of technical excellence, precision engineering, and determination.

Living by the belief that “Software runs the world, but electronics is the world,” SRMS ECE students showcased their brilliance on some of India’s biggest technical platforms:

• At TRYST26, IIT Delhi’s Annual Techfest (27 February–1 March 2026), Sachin Kumar, Sparsh Saxena, and Mohd. Saad (ECE 2023) secured First Position in Robo War (<15 Kg), winning a cash prize of ₹70,000.
• The winning streak continued at Cognizance 2026, IIT Roorkee’s flagship technical fest, where Sachin Kumar Maurya, Sparsh Saxena, and Mohd. Saad secured Second Position in the highly competitive 30 Kg RoboWar category, earning ₹50,000 from a ₹6 lakh prize pool on 13–14 March 2026.
• Earlier, at Gantavya 2K26 hosted by SRMCEM Lucknow (16–17 February 2026), Sachin Kumar Maurya and Sparsh Saxena won Second Position in both Robo War 15 Kg & Robo War 8 Kg categories, securing cash prizes of ₹20,000 and ₹15,000 respectively.

Well, these achievements are more than victories, they reflect the future-ready, innovation-driven ecosystem at SRMS CET.