National, May 2022: Bangalore-based not-for-profit foundation, AI & Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK), concluded the 3rd edition of Codeavour 2021 powered by STEMpedia in March 2022, which was organised from 20th October 2021 to 10th Feb 2022 to motivate students from age 7 to 18 years old to create innovative AI projects and make the world a better place with their awesome AI and coding skills. The objective of the competition is to develop critical thinking, creativity, collaboration & communication – the four C’s of the 21st-century skills through a hands-on project building approach. This is part of a larger objective of ARTPARK to enable a robust AI & Robotics community not just in India, but even globally.
A total of 69525 teams of students from 68 countries participated in the competition, individually and in a group of two, under three age categories: Elementary (7-10 years), Junior (11-14 years), and Senior (15-18 years). The themes of this edition were Strengthen the Health Infrastructure, Automate the Surroundings, Smart Transportation Systems, Entertain the World, Save the Environment and Explore the Outer World.
Commenting on the challenge, Mr. Umakant Soni, CEO & Co-Founder, ARTPARK, said, “Learning to learn and learning to create are going to be the two important future skills that would be rewarded in upcoming AI driven experience economy, which is going to complement the knowledge economy. Codevour is one such attempt to inculcated these two important attributes in our kids, so that they are ready to not just survive but thrive in this AI decade. We are overwhelmed to see such a great response from students across the world. The kind of projects that we received from these kids, reaffirms our believe that every child is different and has the potential to change the world for good by creating something new. ARTPARK, in association with STEMpedia, will continue to host such competitions for our young generation and motivate them to create the world that they desire. ”
USA-based investor and philanthropist, Mrs. Asha Jadeja, Founder, MJF & Title Sponsor of Codeavour 2021, highlighted the importance of experiential learning-based projects. In her own words, “Codeavour is giving the critical escape velocity to so many young people, energizing them, inspiring them and giving them access to Angel Investors like me and many. Evidence shows very clearly that when kids are taught with a project-based approach, learning is deeper and more exciting for children.”
Codeavour 2021 kickstarted on October 20 with a live grand ceremony on YouTube. Some of the key dignitaries included Asha Jadeja Motwani (Founder, Motwani Jadeja Foundation, USA); Umakant Soni (Co-founder & CEO, ARTPARK, India), Pankaj Kumar Verma (Co-founder & CTO, STEMpedia), Dr. Wendy Muhlhauser (Founder|Author|Educator, USA) and Sally Kimangu (CEO, Destination Imagination in Africa).
The competition recorded academic partnerships from 607 schools from 17+ countries, of which 548 were from India alone. Countries like India, Indonesia, Arab Emirates, Palestine, Singapore, South Korea, and Malaysia, among others, recorded the highest participation. 55 training partners and 15 community partners were onboarded for this event. 20+ free AI and Coding Bootcamps and 150+ doubt sessions were also organized online and offline to teach AI & ML concepts and guide students and teachers about the registration procedure.
The competition saw more than 80 winners from 16 countries, of which 38 hailed from India, 9 from Palestine, 7 from Jordan, 6 from Egypt, and 3 from South Africa, Syria, and UAE. There were winners from other countries too, including Iraq, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria and the USA. The top winners from different categories include Arjun Venkataramanan Gayathri, India, from the team The Warrior Hero, 7-10 years (Dector), Abdulrahman Sataa, Iraq, 11-14 years (Pictolbox), and Samriddhi Kori, India, from team SMILE, 15-18 years (sMile). 80+ exciting prizes like laptops, tablets, scholarships & coupons, and AI & Robotic kits, among others, worth $15,000, were distributed to the winners.
During the closing ceremony, students and educators shared their experiences. Arjun said, “The competition helped me improve my Robotics and Programming skills”. Samriddhi, another participant said, “Codeavour helped us find our inner strength and it also ignite the fire within us to make our dreams into ambition. We were able to solve complex problems in smart ways which enhanced our critical thinking skills.”
ARTPARK has also created ARTPARK Robotics challenge 2021, which is working with college students to solve the sanitation problem of public toilets. Finale of this challenge is concluding on 14th May at JN Tata auditorium at IISc campus.