KOCHI: Fourteen-year-old Malayali students Kathleen Mary Jeeson and Navika D. Nair have won the national championship at the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) India Nationals for developing an advanced robotic and AI system to restore and digitize centuries-old palm-leaf manuscripts. Competing as Team UWR Synergy in the Senior Future Innovators category during the national finals held in Hyderabad from August 26 to 28, the duo earned first place and secured their spot to represent India at the WRO Internationals in Puerto Rico this December.
Targeting the preservation of ancient scientific and mathematical knowledge—such as the works of Sangamagrama Madhava—the team developed ‘Smriti 1.0’, an automated conservation system. Smriti 1.0 replaces traditional, month-long manual restoration processes with a rapid, automated workflow that completes cleaning, preservation, and high-resolution scanning within minutes. The system utilizes a specialized damage-free conveyor belt to clear dust, applies protective coatings, captures fine visual details using high-resolution cameras, and employs custom-trained AI and OCR technology to transcribe ancient scripts into editable digital text accessible via a cloud platform.
Kathleen, a ninth-grade student at Holy Grace School in Mala, and Navika, a ninth-grade student at Naipunnya Public School in Kochi, developed the project under the mentorship of Unique World Robotics (UWR) trainers Dixson M.D., Shakthipriya E.K., Jayashankar V.A., and coach Akhila R. Gomez. Project research was inspired by insights into ancient manuscripts shared by Litty Chacko, Director of the Manuscript Research and Presentation Centre in Iringalakuda.
