Which is the supreme robot? Optimus Prime? The Terminator? See-Threepio? Wall-E, maybe?
Teams of tech-savvy students throughout Abu Dhabi will be hoping they’ve constructed a contender for the title, as the UAE’s National World Robotics Olympiad takes place this weekend.
Hosted at the Fairmont Bab al Bahr, the student teams will be hoping to show their mettle after building and programming robots to compete in the worldwide robotic competition.
After hosting regional competitions throughout the country last month, the winning teams from this weekend’s national competition will go on to represent the UAE at the World Robotics Olympiad 2014 in Sochi, Russia in November.
“We built a robot for the Sputnik Challenge,” said 14-year-old Sebastian Thaeron from the American Community School of Abu Dhabi. “I’m pretty excited and not too nervous, as our robot was one of the best in Abu Dhabi. I think there will be some competition from the other emirates though.”
The gold medalist is part of the Arken Olympus team, along with Grade 9 students Marnix Soelman and Christain Warren, and will be competing in the nationals on the 6th and 7th June.
The theme for this year’s competition is Robots and Space. The out-of-this-world premise saw students challenged to build a robot from scratch and programme it to pick up and recognise specific objects.
American Community School 7th grader silver medalist Jaafer Saadat explains his partner Philippos Slicher and him tweaked their robot ahead of the national competition. “We both decided to sit down and improve our robot after getting second place in the Abu Dhabi region. With the improvements, I hope to stay in the medal placement. However, regardless of whether we win or lose, I know we will learn from the experience of meeting and competing against teams from the other emirates.”
The students in the capital began working on robot designs as early as February in the hope to qualify for a spot to represent the country at the worldwide finals. To find out more about the competition visit: www.wro2014.org
