At Samsung Solve for Tomorrow's Darbhanga stop, students pitch the next wave of sports tech

"Which game do you love, and why?" That was the question Abhinav Trivedi, Deputy Editor at LiveMint posed to students at Darbhanga College of Engineering in Bihar. "I like kabaddi," one student said. "Kabaddi is all about teamwork, and raiding is fun." Another student preferred football. "It teaches teamwork first. Leadership and strategic thinking come naturally after that." The third student chose wrestling and weightlifting: "You have to stay in the present; you have to stay active at every moment."

Two of the college's faculties joined the discussion: Dr Chandan Kumar, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the college’s Principal and Ankesh Kumar, Assistant Professor of Mathematics.

Where technology already lives in sport

Trivedi then asked whether any of them had personally seen technology transform sport. Cricket's Decision Review System (DRS) was the first example. "If a catch touches the bat, it can tell," one student said, "and it's used a lot in umpiring too, which makes the game fair." From there, students broadened the discussion. One pointed to virtual reality for studying technique, while others highlighted fitness apps that track heart rate, blood pressure and calories to help athletes manage their training.

One student's account was more personal. "My father has diabetes," one student said. "Sometimes he ignores his medication. But when we show him the readings from his fitness band, he becomes much more careful."

What students wanted AI to solve next

When the discussion turned to invention, the students had no shortage of ideas. "There should be a device that continuously monitors your heart rate and warns you early if you're at early risk of a heart attack," one student said. Another student turned to India's growing diabetes cases. "Many people struggle to manage the condition. We need a device that helps them monitor it and makes treatment easier," he said. A different student proposed a GPS-enabled wearable designed to improve family safety. "We don't have a GPS tracker for girls right now,” she said.

The most striking idea focused on mental health. "I'm not talking about mechanical stress," Dr Chandan said. "I mean the stress we carry in our minds. There should be a device that can measure mental stress before it becomes overwhelming," one student said. Building on that idea, another participant imagined an app that could recognise when negative thoughts begin to take hold and respond with something calming, such as a guided meditation or a favourite song.

A sharper question followed: Has technology quietly taken some humanity out of sport? Opinion in the room was divided. "AI can't win the match for us," one student said. "It can only tell us the correct posture. It can't lift the weight." Another voice in the room disagreed. Technology, she argued, can create mental barriers. Once athletes see a benchmark, they often begin to believe they cannot go beyond it, even when their bodies still can.

Why was Samsung Solve for Tomorrow in the room?

Several students in the room had already applied. "I've been applying for two or three years now," one said, "and again this year, under Environment and Sustainability." Another, in a two-person team on a defence idea under AI Living for India, put it simply: "We just want a chance to represent our thinking so we can succeed."

Trivedi introduced Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026 to the audience. Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is one of India’s leading innovation programmes, where young changemakers are encouraged to identify pressing societal challenges and transform their ideas into impactful solutions with mentorship, and support.

The top 40 teams will each receive ₹20,000 for prototype development, access to state-of-the-art Prototyping Labs at FITT, and an Innovation Bootcamp. They will also get an exclusive opportunity to visit and interact with leaders in Samsung's R&D centres in Bengaluru, Delhi and Noida, and its South West Asia office in Gurugram, before advancing to the National Pitch Event. Each team member will receive a Samsung Galaxy laptop.

The top 20 teams will each receive ₹1 lakh, perosnalized mentorship from Samsung experts, and a Galaxy Z Flip smartphone for every team member, along with an opportunity to meet investors at the Grand Finale. Four winning teams, one from each theme, will share a cumulative incubation grant of ₹2 crore* and receive incubation support from FITT-IIT Delhi.

Trivedi then introduced students to Pune-based NextPlayAI, developed by national-level tennis players Aadish Shelke and Bhagyashri Meena. Having struggled to access elite coaching for tennis in smaller cities themselves, they built a video-analysis platform that helps athletes in Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns receive detailed performance feedback. NextPlayAI was one of the four national winners of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2025. For students in Darbhanga, the success of NextPlayAI reinforced a simple lesson: great ideas can emerge from any corner of the country.

Trivedi ended the session with his answer to the morning's toughest question. Intelligence alone, he said, is not enough. What truly sets people apart is emotional intelligence, something he believes remains beyond the reach of machines.

The ideas shared that morning may have begun in a classroom in Darbhanga. Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026 now gives students across Bihar the opportunity to bring them to the Grand Finale in October this year.

Applications for Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026 are open at https://www.samsung.com/in/solvefortomorrow till the midnight of July 3rd.

Note to Readers: Hindustan Times is a media partner for Samsung's IP Solve for Tomorrow 2026. Mint is an HT Media brand.