Blix-a-thon 2025: How actually was the D Day?

A good competition never really begins on the arena floor.

It begins much earlier. It starts when someone asks a simple but difficult question. Something like, what should students actually learn from this?

Blix-a-thon 2025 was designed with that exact thought. The criteria were definitely not to test who builds the fastest robot or writes the cleanest code. But we wanted to see how students think, plan, fail, and try again.

Literally over three days at IIT Bombay Techfest, that intent came alive in ways that were honest, raw, and deeply inspiring.

We saw almost 404 teams, with more than 1,300 students participating. Leaving the scale alone (because it was huge), the Blix team, during these days, witnessed how creatively students solve problems their own way (when they are given the freedom to do it)

What happened in these 3 days?

All the Blix-a-thon challenges start as a learning problem, and not a game format.

Let's say, Robo Sprint. This game was not about speed alone. It was about strategy, planning, and controlled movement. Students had to think about positioning, timing, and how small decisions affected outcomes within a fixed time window.

On the other hand, Ultimate Maze flipped expectations completely. The slowest marble wins. That forced participants to rethink design logic. Instead of racing to the finish, students had to understand friction, angles, gravity, and control. It rewarded patience and thoughtful engineering.

If we talk about Coding Quest, this one was more about logic. There were preprogrammed bots that needed no manual intervention and literally no second chances. Students had to trust their code and their understanding of colour detection, sequencing, and execution.

And lastly, Robo Precision, this one actually demanded calm control. Students had to stack cups using only a bot. This sounds simple until precision becomes the deciding factor. Every movement mattered. Every error was visible.

If you will see from our eyes, each arena was different, but the learning thread was the same.

Who showed up?

Blix-a-thon 2025 was not watched from a distance. We had leaders from science centres visiting us, also from maker ecosystems, toy manufacturing, and education. They all spent time at the arenas. They observed how students approached problems. They watched teams debug under pressure. They asked questions, not to test knowledge, but to understand thinking.

When the Director of Nehru Science Centre spoke about curiosity and experiential learning, he actually saw all of that in the students who were already demonstrating it on the floor.

Industry leaders and founders stayed back to watch builds evolve. That presence mattered. Because when students realise that their work is being taken seriously by people shaping education and innovation in India, the competition becomes more than an event. It becomes validation.

And what else?

At Blix, we have always believed that access should not depend on background.

This year, that belief took form through the partnership with BIS. There were almost 50 teams from rural regions of Maharashtra to participate. Students from Nashik, Ratnagiri, and Pali stood shoulder to shoulder with teams from international schools. The arena was the same, the rules, and even the expectations.

What did Blix learned with Blix-a-thon 2025?

Blix-a-thon is powered by Blix, but it is not built as a product showcase.

Our role from the start was to design learning pathways that feel achievable yet challenging. The competition kits, the rules, the prep webinars, the insistence on building models before arriving at the venue all of it comes from years of setting up STEM and Robotics labs in schools.

We knew where students struggled. We knew where teachers hesitated. We knew what breaks, what confuses, and what excites.

All of the experiences helped us design Blix-a-thon the way it is. We are still learning. What we understand is that, for many, this is their first exposure to a national-level STEM competition. For some, it becomes the moment they realise they want to build, design, or engineer for life.

That is what we understood!

Till then, let's wait, we have more competitions on our way!