Watch WeDu Episode About Robofest
Robofest SA span presteer by die wêreld kampioenskappe.
Die afgelope naweek het die Suid-Afrikaanse Robofest span ‘n paar uitsonderlike prestasies behaal by die wêreld kampioenskappe in Florida, VSA.
Die Brainiacs - ‘n plaaslike span van Vanderbijlpark het weg gestap met die “Innovation” toekenning vir hulle projek om mense te vind wat begrawe is onder sneeu na ‘n sneeu storting. Die span is verteenwoordig deur een van die drie 3 leerlinge wat saam gewerk het aan die projek. Izabelle Bothma van Laerskool Kollegepark het die beoordeelars tot so ‘n mate beïndruk met hulle projek dat hulle hierdie gesogte toekenning ontvang het. Dit is voorwaar ‘n prestasie waarop ons baie trots is.
The Admirals - (Joshua Botha en Jurgen Hanekom) - Twee tuisskool leerders van Edenvale in Johannesburg het dit reggekry om in ‘n naelbyter finaal met die span van Hong Kong af te reken omsodoende die “BottleSumo” kompetisie wenners te word vir 2017. Dit is die eerste keer wat ‘n SA span dit kon regkry om die wêreld kampioenskappe te wen in die afdeling. Hulle het ook deelgeneem aan die “RoboHit gameplay” afdeling waarin hulle ‘n baie goeie vertoning gelewer het.
Insele Solutions – (Luke Andrews) - ‘n Leerder van Cornwall Hill College in Irene het ook gesorg vir opwinding. Hy het in die “surprise challenge” vir die “RoboHit” kompetisie dit reg gekry om ‘n gesamentlike 3de plek te verower. In die eerste rondte van die “RoboHit gameplay” het hy vol punte behaal en die vinnigste tyd op die veld aangeteken wat bly staan het tot die einde toe. Ongelukkig het hy in die 2de rondte 1 punt gemis en gevolglik uitgeval. Die kompetisie in die afdeling was baie sterk, en 6 spanne het dit reggekry om volpunte in beide rondtes te behaal, hoewel hulle tyd stadiger was. Die enigste manier om die kompetisie te wen is om in beide rondtes vol punte te kry en die vinnigste tyd aan te teken.
Ons 2 senior spanne, Revolution en Jomosoco het goeie vertonings gelewer, maar kon ongelukkig nie onder die top spanne eindig nie.
Hierdie jaar het meer as 240 spanne deelgeneem aan die onderskeie afdelings van die kompetisie en daar was 12 lande verteenwoordig by die wêreld kampioenskappe, wat insluit : VSA, Korea, China, Mexico, Hong Kong en Suid-Afrika. Dit is ‘n “open platform” kompetisie wat beteken dat enige robot en programmeringstaal gebruik kan word om deel te neem en dat robotte basies beoordeel word op funksionaliteit. Kinders kan ook individueel deelneem, maar ons verkies dat so ver moontlik hulle wel in spanne deelneem.
Robofest is ‘n groep van 7 robotika kompetisies wat saamgevoeg is in een groot kompetisie. Dit sluit in:
VCC – Visual Centric Competition vir laat hoërskool leerlinge en studente
GRAF – Global Robotics Art Festival
Om meer te leer van die kompetisie kan mense gerus die webblad besoek. http://www.robofest.trophyrobotics.co.za/ of http://www.robofest.net . Trophy Computers & Robotics is op die stadium die organiseerders van Robofest Suid-Afrika met die ondersteuning van Noordwes Universteit in die Vaal Driehoek.
SA Robotics team surprises at the World Robofest Championship.
During the first week end in June our SA Robofest team competed against 11 countries at the World Championship event in Florida, USA. While we are still rookies in most of the games, we were able to pull out a few awesome surprises against our more established competitors like the USA and China.
The surprise challenge for the RoboHit teams delivered our first great performance in the form of Luke Andrews (Insele Solutions). He managed to achieve a third place in the long distance hit competition. That set the stage for a great second performance from “The Admirals” later on Friday evening during the BottleSumo Challenge. In a real nail biter final South Africa managed to clinched the victory from Hong Kong to become the BottleSumo world champions for 2017. The 5 game match had everyone jumping and shouting in the hall. Hong Kong easily won the first round. The second round was a timed draw, South Africa won the third round to even up the scores. Then the fourth match again was a draw, which left us with the fifth round deciding match. The teams were match evenly at this stage and the Hong Kong robot were much stronger than the SA robot. But we were faster and our programming strategy worked better and in the end we beat them, by pushing there robot off the table, while it was slowly turning.
On Saturday our junior exhibition team, “The Brainiacs” also found themselves in the top teams as they were awarded the Innovation trophy for their project. The Brainiacs is a junior team from Vanderbijlpark. It is a great honor to be awarded this trophy as Innovation is a big part of robotics.
Still we were not done yet as Luke Andrews started his gameplay and was in the lead until the final round of the RoboHit game where a critical miss destroyed our chances for a second world title. He was in the lead with a perfect score and the fastest time until then. Unfortunately, missing the goal post on the last round cost him the title, but he was awarded the Robot Design award.
South Africa walked away from the 2017 Robofest world championship with 2 awards and a world title for BottleSumo.
Robofest is a festival of competitions with autonomous robots offering students the opportunity to master principles of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM), Computer Science (CS), Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and problem solving skills while designing, constructing, and programming robots.
Teams compete in the junior (grades 4-8), senior (grades 9-12), and college divisions in the following categories:
Vision Centric Challenge (VCC™) – Teams develop a vision-centric robot to manoeuvre through an obstacle course.
Unknown Mission Challenge (UMC™) - Mission tasks will be totally unknown until the day of competition.
Global Robotics Art Festival (GRAF™) – Robotics music, dance, and visual arts competition
BottleSumo™– Push a bottle and/or opponent off the table
RoboParade® - Parade of Autonomous robots!
Look Mom, No Hands! Students must fully program their robots to perform their missions without human assistance. No joysticks or remote controls are allowed.
Students Rule: While adult mentorship is encouraged, students design, construct and program the robots, and students make all decisions during competitions without any direct adult help.
Call us if you want to become involved with this huge opportunity!
http://www.robofest.trophyrobotics.co.za/ or http://www.robofest.net