Boys or girls? From elementary schools or multi-year grammar schools? From big or small towns? "Every year we invent new tasks for robots made from the LEGO Mindstorms kit, which is a popular tool in robotics clubs and classes in schools across the Czech Republic. Three-person teams of pupils and students can then enter the spring or autumn part of our Robo Competition in two age categories," says Martin Hlinovský from the Department of Control Engineering at FEE CTU, who has been the main organiser of the competition for 15 years. He adds: "We therefore invite you next week to the competition of teams from the 2nd grade of primary schools and the corresponding years of multi-year grammar schools. This year 138 robots will compete in three independent rounds and the competition task for them is called Ping-Pong. We're very curious to see how they do!"
Ping-pong competition task
This year, students from 2nd grade elementary schools or multi-year high schools are asked to build and program a robot to move and possibly sort as many colored ping-pong balls placed on the competition area into predefined storage areas (warehouses) as possible within a time limit of 90 seconds, independently and without any other help (i.e. without controlling the robot by voice, Bluetooth or other communication channels). The competition is organized as a mutual match between two robots on a symmetrically divided game plan, with the number of points scored deciding the winner.
Next week three rounds of competition, in June the superfinals
Three separate rounds of this year's Robo Competition for Primary Schools will be held in the Zenger Auditorium of the FEE CTU building in Prague, Karlovo náměstí 13:
- Wednesday 26 April 2023 (42 teams and their robots are registered),
- Thursday 27 April 2023 (46 robots),
- Friday 28 February 2023 (50 robots).
This year's highlight will be the superfinal at the Maker Faire Prague festival of creators and innovators, which will take place on the weekend of 10 and 11 June 2023 at the Prague Exhibition Grounds. The top 4 teams from each individual round of the Robo Competition will advance to the superfinals next week - so visitors will see a showcase of the 12 best robots on the "big stage" at the end of the festival.
The exact schedule of the Robocompetition 2023 for primary schools, the competing teams, the task description and other details can be found on the Robocompetition website or Facebook.
