Learners at Greenside High School love playing with robots; so much so, that their skills are taking them overseas.
They will compete in this year’s World Robotics Olympiad, which sees over 60 000 people from 60 countries compete in Costa Rica, with 285 teams from South Africa.
WATCH: Learners tell us more about their robots.
A Grade 11 student, Tinotenda Bosingwa, is excited to be heading to Costa Rica. She said, “Our team is called, Team TBC. The full effects of climate change on our world is something that we are only going to see years later.
“Our project is all about climate change, and this is something that our coach is passionate about too.”
Fellow Grade 11 learner, Phillip Ginster commented, “It is so much fun to build these robots. I used to play with Lego as a kid, now I get to enter a competition with them. Learning to control these robots with a computer is an awesome learning experience.”
Robotics at Greenside High School started over six years ago with a SciBono sponsored Lego technic kit. Its popularity at the school grew so much that in 2015 they entered their first World Robotics Olympiad.
The theme for this year’s event is sustainability, with Greenside’s robots focusing on four of the United Nations’ sustainability goals: New energy, community, life on land and awareness.
The robot is completely autonomous and programmed by the students with high-tech and open-sourced Adreno software. Their robot cost about R7 500 to complete.
Anne Ginster, Team TBC’s coach, is proud of her students. She said, “We have a long history of encouraging maths, science and physics, at Greenside. Activities like this show the kids how fun it can be.”
Ginster added, “This is a free extramural activity that Greenside is proud to offer, and the learning experience that it has offered will offer such a bright future for these kids. We are lucky that the school’s governing body is supporting us, but we would love sponsorship for faster laptops and Android phones.”
World Robot Olympiad will be bringing together young people from all over the world and takes place in Costa Rica from 10 to 12 November.
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