Aramco-powered World Robot Olympiad STEM Entrepreneur Program selects four winning student teams
Each of the four winning teams was awarded $5,000 to jump-start the commercialization of their innovations and advance their prototypes, along with six months of mentorship from industry experts.
By Musherf Alamri
Aramco, in partnership with the World Robot Olympiad (WRO®), has launched the WRO STEM Entrepreneur Program, a new initiative that bridges the gap between Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and entrepreneurship. The new program gives students the opportunity to defend how their technologies work, why they matter, and how they will take their solutions from the competition arena to the market.
More than 1,000 students participated in the program, with 22 teams of students aged 16-18 from 13 countries competing in the World Robot Olympiad STEM Entrepreneur Program, powered by Aramco, in Hyderabad, India, on September 28. India is itself a dynamic hub for innovation, technology, and young talent, making it a meaningful place to launch the program.
Hadeel A. Al-Eisa, Corporate Citizenship Division manager, said, ”At Aramco, we believe the future lies in empowering young people. Our STEM Education Global Program enables students to understand science and technology and use it to create, build, and solve. Our strategic partnership with WRO continues to expand, allowing students to take their ideas outside of the classroom, from ideation and prototyping to execution and growth.”
Each of the four winning teams was awarded $5,000 to jump-start the commercialization of their innovations and advance their prototypes. This is along with six months of mentorship from industry experts, including investment professionals from Aramco Ventures and the India STEM Foundation, to help further develop their projects.
Abdulrahman Y. Al Thukair, manager of the Aramco Asia India Office, speaks during the World Robot Olympiad STEM Entrepreneur Program event, stressing the curiosity, discipline, and teamwork behind the projects.
Abdulrahman Y. Al Thukair, manager of the Aramco Asia India Office, explained, “The projects we have seen here today were born from curiosity, discipline, and teamwork, not just about circuits and code.” He added, “We are offering a pathway to turn ideas into impact and connecting young innovators with mentors, investors, and industry leaders who can help shape their prototypes into ventures that matter.”
The competition was modeled on a pitch to investors. Each team had 10 minutes to present their robotic solutions and associated business model to a panel of judges, followed by a 10-minute interactive question-and-answer session.
Considerable preparation preceded the competition. To qualify, participants had to meet specific prerequisites, including completing WRO certification coursework and receiving nomination from their national WRO national organizers. Impressive projects were presented from an all-in-one patient monitoring system used to help nurses triage in busy hospitals to a tablet designed to let blind and visually impaired people create art through touch and sound.
Aramco’s STEM Global Citizenship Program has reached more than 1 million beneficiaries around the world since 2023. We strengthen the STEM education ecosystem by enabling partners to deliver a multitude of programs that engage students around the world to become the future innovators of tomorrow.
List of winning teams
- Project: Project Cared
A portable medical device for automatically measuring multiple vitals.
Country: Philippines
- Project: Mini Ibot Innovators
A tactile graphic tablet that creates art.
Country: Italy
- Project: Why Combinator
A hand glove for data collection to help training in physical AI.
Country: South Korea
- Project: Navrachna Vidhyani (New Educational Creation)
A fire extinguishing robot.
Country: India
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