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This year five(5) young robotics enthusiasts represented Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) at this year’s International Youth Robotics Competition (IYRC) which took place from August 5th to 7th in Daejeon, Korea, which was held virtually and on the metaverse platform.
They were one of the STEMGuyana junior teams and called themselves the ‘Elites’. This team hailed from Lichfield on the West Coast of Berbice and consisted of Zaki Ishmael, Daniel Lewis, Lenisha McAlmont, Jayden Robin and Sajjaad Ishmael. They were coached by Bradley Downer and Denica Grant, with support from Charlene Stewart who managed the ICT Hub, the team utilised.
Their works were exhibited on the Metaverse Platform during the event.
This year, there was no theme, however the students worked as a team and built a robot of their choice, following the guideline set out by the International Youth Robotics Association (IYRA), which required teams utilise parts from My Robot Time (MRT) kits, to build robots. This team utilised the MRT3 to create their robot.
The main aim of this competition is robot creation which strives to provide a platform for students to share their creativity, innovative thoughts, teamwork, problem-solving, and programming skills. They are required to work together as a team to design a robot based on the given theme.
They Competed against 71 countries and were one of the 16 STEMGuyana junior teams to win a bronze medal for their creation. This is the second time the club has won a bronze medal at the IYRC.
Last year, the team won a bronze medal for their creation “Golden Retriever,” a stationary robot.
This year there was no theme, but this team constructed Eliteville (a remote community) and Micro – a delivery robot. Micro is used to deliver goods and/or essential supplies to persons who are in isolation due to COVID-19, monkey pox or any other illness that causes one to be isolated.
This year, all 16 STEMGuyana teams won bronze medals.
The Elites received their award at STEMGuyana’s IYRC Award ceremony on October 29th at the Marriott Hotel.
Coach Denica said, “Working with the group was very fun and challenging.
There were challenges such as time management, as time drew closer to the end of the competition we had to make more time to add finishing touches, work on their presentation and so forth.
Another challenge was working as a team after a very long time which was due to the Covid-19 pandemic, however by the end of building the robot, teamwork was no longer an issue for us.”
During a telephone interview with this publication former Berbice High School student and team lead Sajjaad Ishamel shared his experience, “The IYRC was a great challenge for me and working with the team to put together a robot in a short amount of time has definitely taught me to work under pressure and the importance of teamwork, which helps to brings out great ideas from others. I also felt a sense of accomplishment after the robot was finished.”
