ROBOFEST–Gujarat 5.0: Aerial Robotics

ROBOFEST–Gujarat 5.0: Aerial Robotics – Minefield Navigation Challenge is a senior-category competition conducted by the Gujarat Council on Science and Technology (GUJCOST), Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat. The event requires student teams to design and deploy a swarm of autonomous micro aerial vehicles, with a minimum of four drones (each under 0.5 kg), to assist a virtual “person-at-risk” in safely crossing a simulated 100-meter minefield within 10 minutes. The challenge emphasizes real-world relevance in defense, disaster response, and humanitarian operations, demanding high reliability, safe navigation, and coordinated swarm behavior under competition constraints.

The mission demonstration evaluates key technical capabilities including gesture/voice-based activation, autonomous takeoff, mine detection and mapping using onboard sensors, obstacle avoidance, and collaborative route planning. Teams must generate and communicate a safe route with a mandatory 1-meter exclusion buffer from each detected mine and visually mark the corridor using LEDs or approved markers. The competition field is designed as a 20 m × 100 m arena divided into Start, Minefield, and Exit zones, containing approximately 20 to 40 buried mines with possible obstacles such as poles. Scoring is based on mine-mapping accuracy, safe guidance, completion, and time performance, with penalties for unsafe proximity or crashes.