Parklands College teams recently qualified to represent South Africa in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) International Final in Germany.
The WRO is an annual global robotics event incorporating science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) education, that comprises different categories of participation, including the Future Innovators, RoboMission Senior, Junior and Elementary categories, Robot Explorer, Robo Sports and Future Engineers category.
The theme for this year’s competition is “My Robot, My Friend”, which is connected to the ways in which robots can help humans at home, in emergency situations and health care.
The World Robot Olympiad National competition was held at Curro Aurora in a hot Randburg this past weekend.
Ten Parklands College teams and one Sinenjongo High School Team from Joe Slovo, which is mentored by Parklands College, qualified for the national event as a result of their outstanding performance at the World Robot Olympiad Western Cape Regional competition, held in August this year.
The national event was highly competitive as the best robots in the country competed against each other for the highest scores in the quickest times.
“Our Senior Preparatory teams did extremely well in the Robo Mission category with all five teams placing in the top 8 in the country. Team NextGen won bronze with a full score of 145 in 66 seconds and team TechnoBlade were crowned South African Champions with a full score of 53 seconds with their automated garden robot. In the RoboMission Senior competition, the 2Salies secondary team won bronze for scoring 72 points in 101 seconds,” says Ellie Clews, the school’s social media coordinator .
“Our Senior Preparatory Future Innovators team, Triple Tech, won gold in their category for their Amazing Water Rover which delivers water, responds to emergencies and delivers medical supplies to rural communities. In the Robo Sports Tennis category, the Secondary faculty team Complexities won bronze and The Rock Boyz from Sinenjongo High School, our mentorship team, took gold by winning the championship competition. This is a very special achievement because it proves that any learner with the right opportunities, talent and time can succeed,” she adds.
Team Robodog, the Future Engineers team, have designed a self-driving car to navigate a road simulation course and met the international score requirements.
As a result of the above achievements, TechnoBlade, Triple Tech and Robodog have qualified to be part of the South African team and have been invited to compete in the International World Robot Olympiad competition in Dortmund, Germany, from 17-19 November.
“We are extremely proud of all our teams’ incredible achievements and wish them great success in Germany,” Clews says.
