Nitai (center holding the certificate), celebrates the win with his team.
The Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition is one of the most prestigious events in the technical sector, bringing together top engineering talent from across the southern U.S. Universities from Alabama to El Paso sent their brightest senior students to compete in this high-stakes event, where innovation and precision are key.
For Nitai, a 20-year-old bhakti practitioner, leading his 16-member team from the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) to secure first place was nothing short of extraordinary—and a clear testament to the power of spiritual values in a high-pressure, competitive environment.
The challenge was both intense and complex: design an autonomous system that would enable one drone to search a stadium-sized field for a “wounded soldier” (identified by a hidden QR code) and relay the coordinates to a second autonomous rover, which would then navigate the terrain and deliver medical supplies. Teams were judged on speed, accuracy, and technical design.
After two semesters of preparation, competition day arrived. Nitai’s team had 45 minutes on the field to perform as many runs as necessary, adjusting along the way. The first attempt dropped the medical kit too far from the target. The next time, the rover moved too slowly. A pause followed each run, and the team got to work fixing bugs and tweaking solutions on the fly.
But through it all, Nitai stayed remarkably focused and calm. His strength stood out so clearly that his colleague noted, “You looked like a CEO out there.”
Read More https://iskconnews.org/how-a-hare-krishna-kid-won-one-of-techs-hardest-competitions/
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