AIR.2026 Artificial Intelligence & Robotics Summer Training and Project

AIR.2026 — Artificial Intelligence & Robotics is the fourth edition of the international summer training and project certificate programme run by the Centre of Intelligent Robotics (CIR) at the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Allahabad, in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. It is a substantial, hands-on programme rather than a one-day event: 100 hours over roughly two months, with four weeks of offline training on campus (22 June – 19 July 2026, ~80 hours) followed by four weeks of an online graduation project (20 July – 16 August 2026, ~20 hours).

What it covers

The curriculum is organised around four pillars that the organisers frame as the core of modern intelligent systems — Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning and Robotics. Participants move from theoretical foundations into hands-on coding exercises, with weekly quizzes and interactive discussions to consolidate progress, and culminate in a supervised graduation project. Crucially for a robotics programme, training is anchored in a real lab: IIIT Allahabad's CIR is home to research platforms including a Baxter collaborative robot and a Nao humanoid, and participants are offered continued access to the laboratories after the programme. On-campus hostel accommodation and mess facilities are included in the fee, making it accessible to students travelling from across India.

Who leads it

The programme runs under IIIT Allahabad's institutional leadership (Director Prof. Mukul Sarad Sutaone; Dean of Research & Innovation Prof. Pramod Kumar; CIR Head Prof. Sonali Agrawal) and is directed by Dr Surya Prakash of CIR. The teaching team includes Prof. G. C. Nandi, a well-known figure in Indian robotics research, alongside collaborators from IIT Madras and Savonia University. That academic grounding distinguishes AIR from the many commercial "AI bootcamps": it is taught inside a research institute with a genuine robotics pedigree, and the certificate carries IIIT Allahabad's name.

Where it fits in today's AI

India has one of the largest and fastest-growing pools of AI talent in the world, but access to hands-on robotics hardware — manipulators, humanoids, real sensors and controllers — remains scarce outside a few elite labs. AIR.2026 is interesting precisely because it pairs the now-standard ML/DL curriculum with embodied AI: reinforcement learning and robotics taught on physical platforms rather than purely in simulation. As the field's centre of gravity shifts toward agents that act in the world — robot learning, sim-to-real transfer, embodied foundation models — the gap between people who can train a model and people who can make a robot do something useful is widening. A structured, lab-based programme that takes motivated students from fundamentals through a real project, with post-programme lab access, is a meaningful on-ramp into that work. It is best suited to undergraduates, early master's students and self-taught engineers who want supervised, practical exposure to AI and robotics and a credential from a respected institute, rather than to researchers seeking a peer-reviewed venue. Registration is open on a first-come, first-served basis with limited seats, and the fee bundles tuition, accommodation and meals.

AIR is a recurring programme — earlier editions ran as AIR.2025, AIR.2024 and, before the rename, AITA.2023 — so the 2026 cohort builds on an established, iterated curriculum rather than a one-off. The blended structure (four intensive weeks on campus, then four weeks of remote project work) is well suited to students who want immersive lab time followed by the space to consolidate a portfolio-ready project from home, and the certificate plus optional continued lab access give participants a tangible foothold in IIIT Allahabad's research community.