Robocon is an annual international robotic contest being organized since 2002 under the flag of Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) by one of its member broadcasters. Doordarshan India has been an active participant since its inception. Like most other members, DD organizes a national contest every year to select the team for representing India in the international contest. Since 2005, Mumbai Kendra is handling this task with active assistance from Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune. The international contests in 2008 and 2014 were also hosted by joint organizers at Pune.
National Robocon 2017 was held on 2nd to 4th March at Balewadi Stadium, Pune. The curtain raisers were telecast on 1st March on 3 channels of Doordarshan – on DD Sahyadri at 10.30 PM, DD Sports at 11.00 PM and on 11.30 PM. Highlights of all three days were telecast in the same slots on 2nd to 4th March. The final Day Matches and Closing Matches were also telecast live from on DD Sports and DD Sahyadri channels.
A record number of 110 teams from various engineering institutes from all over the country participated in the prestigious competition. Mr. Shivaji Fulsunder, DDG, Doordarshan, Dr. Vishwanath Karad, Head of MIT Group of Institutions, Dr. Sanjay Dhandhe, Former Director, IIT, Kanpur and dignitaries from the fields of education and industry graced the inaugural ceremony. In the final match on 4th of March, Team College of Engineering Pune defeated Team MIT Pune. The winning team will represent India in the international contest to be held on 27th August at Tokyo, Japan.
In a glittering Closing Ceremony attended by Mr. Mukesh Sharma, Former Additional Director General, Doordarshan, Dr. Vishwanath Karad, Shivaji Fulsunder, Deputy Director General (Programme) , Dr. Sanjay Dhandhe and other dignitaries, outstanding teams were given prizes on the basis of their performance, designing and operational skills.