IIIT-Dharwad team secures fourth place in ISRO robotics challenge

Team Icarus of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Dharwad, has secured fourth place in the ISRO Robotics Challenge–URSC (IRoC-U) 2026 and won a cash prize of ₹2 lakh.

The team comprised Jayesh Patil, Saksham Gupta, Aswin Joseph, Priyanshu Mittal, Raskin Verma, Ankit Dash and Mohammad Rehan.

Addressing a press conference at IIIT Dharwad on Tuesday, director S.R. Mahadeva Prasanna and Professor of Practice Mallikarjun Kande said the seven-member team was among 20 teams selected for the final round at the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru after clearing the preliminary, qualification and elimination stages.

The team developed an autonomous heavy-payload quadcopter designed to operate in a simulated Mars-like environment without GPS connectivity. The drone could navigate autonomously, identify designated targets, execute mission operations and return to its base without human intervention.

Prof. Kande, who guided the team through the development and preparation phases, said that the system incorporated visual-inertial navigation, optical-flow-based navigation and computer vision for target detection. The students undertook extensive testing and debugging to integrate the hardware and software required for autonomous operations, he said.

The results were announced during the National Space Day celebrations and awards ceremony in Ahmedabad, organised with the involvement of the ISRO’s Space Applications Centre recently.

Prof. Prasanna said the achievement reflected the students’ technical expertise, perseverance, teamwork and innovation. It also demonstrated IIIT Dharwad students’ capabilities in autonomous robotics, aerial systems and technologies relevant to future space exploration, he said.

Professor K. Gopinath, in charge of student welfare, Registrar Satish Annigeri and the student achievers were present.