KARACHI, October 2026: Three students from Karachi Grammar School (KGS) have qualified for the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) International Final in Puerto Rico after securing first place in the Future Engineers category at the Pakistan National Competition held at Aitchison College in September 2026.
The winning team comprises Ziyad Qasim Farrukh, a Year IX student; Shaayan Nadir Abdullah, a Year X student; and Syed Taha Ahmed, a Second Year A Levels student. Competing as Team Downforce, they will represent Pakistan at the international event scheduled for December 2026.
Autonomous Engineering Challenge
The Future Engineers category is the senior-most category of the WRO, challenging participants aged 14 to 22 to design, build and programme a fully autonomous self-driving vehicle.
Teams must develop a four-wheeled vehicle capable of operating independently without wireless communication while meeting specific mechanical and technical requirements. The challenge tests engineering design, programming, precision and the ability to respond to changing conditions.
The competition features two distinct challenges: the Open Challenge and the Obstacle Challenge.
In the Open Challenge, vehicles must complete three laps of a square track, with the starting position, driving direction and track boundaries randomised.
The Obstacle Challenge adds further complexity. Robots must complete three laps while identifying and navigating red and green traffic-light obstacles. Vehicles must pass to the right of red obstacles and to the left of green ones. They must also manoeuvre autonomously out of a parallel-parking position before starting the challenge.
Team Redesigns Robot for International Competition
Following their victory at the national competition, Team Downforce reviewed its performance and identified areas for improvement in speed, accuracy and manoeuvrability.
Rather than making minor changes to their existing design, the students opted for a substantial redesign informed by their competition experience.
The new vehicle is smaller and more manoeuvrable. It also features a new parallel steering system, replacing the Ackermann steering system used in the previous design.
The team has placed particular emphasis on improving performance in the Obstacle Challenge, which offered the greatest scope for improvement after the national event.
The students are now focusing on programming, testing and analysing the redesigned vehicle. They are repeatedly refining both the robot and its code as they prepare for the international final.
Preparing to Represent Pakistan
The team’s preparation highlights the iterative nature of engineering, in which designs evolve through testing, performance analysis and repeated experimentation.
Team Downforce’s journey also demonstrates the importance of technical knowledge, problem-solving, collaboration and perseverance when tackling complex engineering challenges.
Dr Carl P. Lander, principal of Karachi Grammar School, congratulated the students on their achievement and wished them success at the international competition.
“We are immensely proud of the team for their dedication, ingenuity and commitment to engineering excellence. Their willingness to learn from experience, refine their designs and continually strive for improvement is commendable,” he said.
Lander added that he wished Ziyad, Shaayan and Taha the very best as they prepare to represent Pakistan in Puerto Rico, expressing confidence that the team would embrace the challenge on the international stage.
The qualification marks an important achievement for the students and their school as they prepare to compete against teams from around the world.
