The e-Yantra project at IIT Bombay conducts an online competition, e-Yantra
Robotics Competition (eYRC) which uses a Project Based Learning (PBL)
methodology to train students to implement a robotics project in a step-by-step
manner over a five-month period. Participation is absolutely free. The
competition provides all resources - robot, accessories, and a problem
statement - to a participating team. If selected for the finals, e-Yantra pays
for them to come to the finals at IIT Bombay. This makes the competition
accessible to resource-poor student teams. In this paper, we describe the
methodology used in the 6th edition of eYRC, eYRC-2017 where we experimented
with a Theme (projects abstracted into rulebooks) involving an advanced topic -
3D Designing and interfacing with sensors and actuators. We demonstrate that
the learning outcomes are consistent with our previous studies [1]. We infer
that even 3D designing to create a working model can be effectively learned in
a competition mode through PBL