Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026 has selected eight young innovators from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Odisha among its national Top 20 for developing technology-driven solutions in sports and physical activity. The innovators are Pasupuleti Ruthvik from Chittoor, Kolla Venkata Siva Surya from Visakhapatnam, Homanshika Reddy Pullagurla from Hyderabad, Vatala Harika and Ritesh Routray from Sundargarh, and Manoj Kumar Kasinathan, Jena R and Chriswin William D from Chennai.
Their five ideas use AI, sensors, IoT and wearable technology to address challenges in para-sports, swimming safety, Parkinson’s exercise and athlete performance. Pasupuleti Ruthvik has developed Untethered, a wearable that alerts visually impaired swimmers as they approach the pool wall, while Kolla Venkata Siva Surya is developing technology to help swimmers maintain their trajectory. Vatala Harika and Ritesh Routray are developing ParaSync, an AI-based platform to identify promising para-athletes. Manoj Kumar Kasinathan, Jena R and Chriswin William D are developing Rogue, a wearable aimed at supporting safer exercise for people with Parkinson’s, while Homanshika Reddy Pullagurla is developing Somatrace, an IoT wearable to monitor spinal load among athletes.
The Top 20 represents 18 cities across 12 states, with more than half of the participants coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The innovators are receiving mentoring and prototyping support in collaboration with FITT-IIT Delhi to strengthen their solutions and explore real-world applications. As the competition moves to its final stages, four winning teams will collectively receive INR 2 crore in incubation grants, along with incubation support from FITT-IIT Delhi to further refine and validate their solutions.