Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Abu Dhabi: Dozens of colourful devices whirled around on tables, fetching counters and acting as goalies in mock football matches. Teams of enthusiastic schoolchildren meanwhile cheered on these robots, hoping that their mechanical creations would be selected for the upcoming UAE National Robot Olympiad.
The annual contest has been a display of the creative and mechanical genius among pupils in the country since 2008, and this edition saw the participation of nearly 1,500 children from UAE public and private schools. It is organised by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec)
“The Robot Olympiad provides children with hands-on experiences, and helps translate their classroom learning into active participation. It also generates great interest in scientific and mathematical fields of study,” Dr Najla Al Naqbi, educational technology expert and eLearning manager at Adec, told Gulf News.
“In fact, only about 30 teams took part in the first UAE National Olympiad in 2008, but we have seen increasing enthusiasm since then,” she added.
Over the next week, 379 teams, each consisting of three pupils and a coach, will compete in seven district-wide contests. Then 126 of the best teams will then go up against one another, and 18 will be chosen to represent the UAE at the World Robot Olympiad International in Indonesia in November.
Pupils and teams compete in a number of categories, namely, Regular, Open and Football, Dr Najla explained.
Within the Regular category, which itself is divided into three age groups, robots are assigned a particular mission that they must complete. In the Open category, robots must be constructed based on a particular theme. The 2013 edition requires participants to install robots that advertise World Heritage Sites. In the Football category, a pair of autonomous robots act as goalie and striker, and play a football match against another pair.
Alyazia Al Suwaidi, a 16-year-old Emirati pupil from Al Ittihad National Private School in Abu Dhabi, told Gulf News that her team’s robot had a good chance of winning in their category this year.
“In 2012, we participated in the Football category, but found out that our robot was not always strong enough to protect the goal. This year, we have worked to strengthen it,” she said.
Alyazia, who hopes to study engineering after school, added that participating in the robotics contest had helped enhance her understanding of many physics and programming concepts.
“We realised that our robot last year had a high centre of gravity, which is why it kept toppling over. So we made the base bigger to make it more stable,” she explained.
Shiva J., 16, another participant from Abu Dhabi Indian School, said that the most difficult part of building the robot was the programming.
“Our submission last year came very close to winning, so this time we worked even harder on the mechanics. The competition has also boosted our determination and confidence,” he said.
By Samihah Zaman Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
