“SMART cities of the future” are buzzwords thrown around a lot lately and it is also the theme for this year’s regional Robotic Olympiad to be held in Carnarvon in August.
Pupils have already started working on putting their robots together to participate in this prestigious competition.
The robots need to complete a task in less than two and a half minutes.
According to Odwa Magabyko, the coach of the very successful team that participated in the International Lego League competition in Paraguay earlier this year, pupils in Carnarvon have been working extremely hard to prepare for the Olympiad.
Carnarvon High School won the regional leg of the Olympiad in 2016 but fell short in the nationals.
However, Magabyko is very optimistic about the Province’s chances this year. “The children have been putting in the hours. They have been working since April already.”
For this year’s Olympiad, the technology of driverless cars comes under the spotlight. This technology could also be used to redesign school buses as autonomous, electric vehicles, ie driverless school buses. The driverless school bus will pick the children up directly at their homes and drop them off at school. Since driverless school buses would only be in use for short periods of the day, a driverless school bus can also be used as a delivery van, eg to deliver food to the school.
This will be the challenge this year, with the pupils required to make a robot that can pick up three pupils at their homes and transport them to school. Furthermore, the robot must also be able to deliver fruit to the school.
Finally, the robot must park in a garage for maintenance and to recharge. Each team will use their robot to perform the tasks within two minutes.
Children from as young as nine will be participating, Magabyko said. “Although the younger ones will not be subjected to the strict rules and regulations faced by the older children, and will also not progress any further than the regional competition, it is a great opportunity for them as well.”
Magabyko said that on the day of the competition, participants will have to rebuild their robots from scratch before taking on the task. “They will only have a certain amount of time to do this. There is also a time limit on the exercises the robot has to perform.”
The robots, as well as the other objects used, are made from Lego.
The regional Olympiad will be held at Carnarvon High School on August 24.