Pratyoosh ShuklaNL Dalmia High School
Pratyoosh Shukla's Backstory
My name is Pratyoosh, and I am a 14-year-old student currently studying in Grade 9 at NL Dalmia High School. I am passionate about robotics, artificial intelligence, electronics, programming, and engineering.
My journey into technology began in Grade 5, when our school introduced the Robotics subject delivered by OLL, it ignited a curiosity and a desire to understand how things work.
Since then, I have believed that the best way to learn is by building, experimenting, and continuously improving.
Over the years, I have explored programming, embedded systems, IoT, CAD, 3D design, and
robotics through hands-on projects. Every challenge has taught me something new, whether it was designing a better mechanical structure, solving an electronics problem, or learning an entirely new skill to bring an idea to life.
The journey of the Inter-school Competition
My latest robotics competition was RoboAI Fusion in the Athena Interschool Competition, where I competed with my Robo Sumo robot, Destroyer.
However, the journey of building this robot began almost a year before this
competition.
My interest in Robo Sumo started when I was selected to participate in OLL’s Robo Sumo competition at IIT Bombay. Unfortunately, I was eliminated during the intra-school selection round due to a malfunction in my gyroscope-based control system. During the match, my robot had almost pushed the opponent out of the arena, but while trying to correct its direction, the controller malfunctioned, causing my robot to reverse out of the ring instead.
Although I was disappointed, that experience taught me valuable lessons about robot design, control systems, and the importance of reliability.
When I got another opportunity to build a Robo Sumo robot this year, I decided to start from scratch and build a much more reliable machine. Since there were no restrictions on components, I spent weeks researching different motors, motor drivers, batteries, radio controllers, and mechanical designs to create the best possible combination for performance and durability.
Finding the right components at an affordable price became my next challenge. After exploring
several online stores, I realized that either the required parts were unavailable or the prices were too high.
I reached out to my mentors from OLL, Mr. Hardik Sir and Mr. Pranay Sir (from school), who guided me to Lamington Road in Mumbai, a well-known electronics marketplace. Visiting the market helped me source high-quality components within my budget.
The first prototype used a lightweight plywood chassis. While it performed well during initial
testing, I wasn't completely confident about its strength and motor performance. After several tests, I upgraded to more powerful metal gear motors to achieve a better balance of speed, torque, and control.
As development continued, I encountered several technical setbacks. During testing, I accidentally damaged an ESP32 and a motor driver because the motors drew much higher current under heavy load than expected. Instead of giving up, I redesigned the entire electrical system, replacing the original motor drivers and modifying the control system to make it more reliable for competition.
Mechanical strength became another major challenge. Continuous testing exposed weak points in the chassis, so I reinforced the robot using carbon fiber and mild steel to improve rigidity while
lowering its center of gravity for better stability during pushing matches.
New Innovations
To further improve traction, I experimented with creating a suction system. Since I couldn't find a
suitable high-power fan, I modified a CPU cooling fan by replacing its original motor with a more
powerful BLDC motor, creating a custom suction mechanism specifically for the robot.
One of the biggest challenges was designing the wheels. I couldn't find commercially available
wheels that matched my requirements, and importing them from overseas was too expensive. Instead of compromising, I decided to learn CAD and 3D design. I designed my own wheels, worked with local manufacturing and 3D printing services, and successfully produced custom wheels tailored to my robot.
After months of research, redesigns, failures, testing, and continuous improvements, my Robo
The Sumo robot was finally complete. I named it Destroyer.
What I learnt, and What's Next?
Building Destroyer taught me far more than robotics. It taught me how to approach engineering
problems, adapt when things go wrong, learn new skills whenever necessary, and never stop improving.
Every failure became an opportunity to learn, and every challenge pushed me to become a better engineer.
Although the competition itself was an important milestone, the greatest achievement was the
journey of designing, building, and continuously improving Destroyer from an idea into a fully
functional Robo Sumo robot.
I enjoy taking on projects that push me beyond my comfort zone and encourage
me to keep learning.
Robotics has become one of my greatest passions because it combines software, electronics,
mechanical design, and creativity into a single system. My goal is not only to build robots for
competitions but also to develop technologies that can solve real-world problems and create a
meaningful impact.
Shared by Pratyoosh Shukla