Strategic partner Al Jazeera Children's Channel to air a series of special reports on the program
DOHA, QATAR - Students from 18 schools in Qatar, Kuwait and the U.A.E. attended a two-day Botball workshop over the weekend at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Botball is a U.S.-based organization that introduces robotics to high school students. At the intensive two-day robotics workshop, the teams were given the necessary background and expertise to build and program their own Lego Mindstorm robot.
Over the next few weeks, students will work with teachers and mentors to build and program their robots. The learning experience will culminate in April and May when the teams from each country compete against each other to see whose robot completes the course. The winning team also must demonstrate the work they've done in order to program their robot.
"Botball is a great way for high school students to learn about robots," said Chuck Thorpe, dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar and former head of the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute. "It's also an excellent way for students to put their skills in math, engineering and teamwork to use."
In addition to growing the event from six teams last year to 18 teams this year, Al Jazeera Children's Channel had shown interest in covering this event and producing a four-part documentary on Botball and robotics.
"Al Jazeera Children's Channel finds in this competition an exciting tool to help inspire students around the region and raise awareness of the creativity level of the Arab child. During last year's event, we witnessed the ability of Arab children to use subjects they learned in school in a meaningful way. They managed to design, build, program and document their robots,' says Mostapha Mellouk, Deputy General Manager of Al Jazeera Children's Channel. "A JCC TV crew will be on location to cover all aspects of this year's event, which will be broadcast in the form of several reports starting with the workshop this month all the way to the finale that will be held in Doha in May."
Country-level Botball competitions will take place on Saturday, April 28, in Doha; on Thursday, May 3, in Kuwait; and on Saturday, May 12, in the U.A.E. Twelve teams will compete in Doha, three in Kuwait and three in the U.A.E. The top two teams from each competition will then go on to compete in the Regional Botball Championship on Thursday, May 24, in Doha.
Botball special reports on Al Jazeera Children's Channel will air internationally in May. Dates are not confirmed. For more information on Botball, visit www.botball.org.
Editor's note: Journalists and photographers are invited to attend all Botball events.
Participating schools from Qatar are: Qatar Academy, Doha College, American School in Doha, Al-Jazeera Academy, Doha Independent School, Al-Khor International School, Al Resala, Eman Independent School, Amna Bint Wahhab Independent School, Qatar International School, Omar Bin Al-Khattab Scientific School and Al-Maha English School. Schools from Kuwait are: Al RU'YA Bilingual School, The British School of Kuwait and Kuwait National English School. Schools from the U.A.E. are: Al Mawakeb School-Al Barsha, American Community School of Abu Dhabi and Al Mawakeb School-Garhoud.
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About Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is the first international branch campus operated by Carnegie Mellon University, a private American research university that's regularly ranked among the best in the world. In August 2004 Carnegie Mellon began offering its highly regarded undergraduate programs in business administration and computer science at the invitation of the Qatar Foundation. Carnegie Mellon plans to open a new facility on the Education City campus in 2008. More information can be found at www.qatar.cmu.edu.
© Press Release 2007
