From contestant to World Robot Olympiad judge

The pandemic wasn't over yet when the Narayanganj boy Sazzad Islam got a chance to study at Vanderbilt University in the US. That was in 2021. Unfortunately he didn't get a visa and was at a loss as to what to do. He was despondent. Half of his friends had joined the engineering university BUET and other universities and their classes had started. The other half has gone abroad.

In the meantime, his friend Shihab Sarar Ahmed was preparing to go overseas. Before leaving, he handed over his World Robot Olympiad (WRO) equipment to Sazzad. He said, this will give your something to spend your time with. A month later, it was Shihab again who informed him that the WRO had started. Bangladesh Open Source Network (BdOSN) was the organiser of the Bangladesh segment.

Sazzad said, "I was wondering whether it would be right to enter the contest with such short time and so little experience. Shihab encouraged me. He said that entering a competition is the best way to learn. So I went to register in the Future Engineers category and leant that you had to enter as a team of two. I didn't have anyone."

That was when Sazzad met Tausif Samin of Notre Dame. They registered in the competition together. The Bangladesh chapter of the competition was held online then because of the pandemic. Achieving an honourable mention, the Sazzad-Samin duo got a chance of taking part in WRO. Thus began prepping for the global stage. Sazzad said, "I would commute between Narayanganj and Dhaka every day then. There was the social distance protocol in place because of the pandemic. In these conditions, we would get directions and instruments from BdOSN's Koreshi bhai (Maherul Azam) and then prepare by ourselves. He would help us with whatever we needed."

WRO was online that time because of the pandemic. This was the first time that Bangladesh was participating in WRO. And it the very first time, the Sazzad-Samin team prodigy won 10th place in the whole world.

Sazzad got admitted to the famous Stanford University in the US in the next session. He is now a second year student there. He said, "I saw my admission file. My preparation for WRO and preparing myself, all this was important for my admission. The admission office gave importance to my rising from a small town like Siddhirganj in Narayanganj, my all-out efforts as the son of parents who were deprived of formal education."

After his success at WRO, Sazzad became attached to the Bangladesh chapter BdOSN. In 2022 Sazzad took on the responsibility as coach for Tausif Samin and Iqbal Samin's team Lazy-go. The team created a stir at the 19th WRO held in Dortmund in Germany. They stood third, clinching the bronze. They used locally designed and improvised JRC boards to make their robot.

The next year Sazzad began work as judge the WRO Bangladesh phase. BdOSN also proposed his name as judge at the international level. After an interview, WRO selected him. In November 2023 Sazzad Islam joined the 20th WRO held in Panama, as a judge. This was unprecedented, at least in Bangladesh, to become an international level WRO judge within three years of being a contestant at the Robot Olympiads.

Sazzad said, "I was the youngest among the jury members. This was a bit scary but fun too. Most of the other judges were experienced. I learnt a lot from them. While judging the plans and preparations of the contestants, I recalled my days preparing at home in Narayanganj."

Today Sazzad has the opportunity of working with the world's top researchers. His area of work and study includes machine learning, deep learning, autonomous system, imitation learning, etc.

This young man wants to do something for the country. He contributed funds from his own fellowship to arrange the WRO in 2023 in Bangladesh. He is now striving to inspire and motivate children and teenagers towards robotics, artificial intelligence and such subjects.