Two pupils from Maragon Private Schools, Rueben Pretorius and Matthew Whyte as well as Jared Rheeders from Midstream College, all aged 15, participated at the National Robotics Olympiad at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) recently.
The trio entered the Junior High Open Category and took first place.
Robotics is a relatively new sport in South Africa and last year seven South African teams competed against 35 countries. Two of the teams placed 2nd and 4th, a phenomenal achievement for our country.
As a result of their excellent achievement, the boys have been invited to represent South Africa at the World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) to be held from 21 to 23 November in Sochi Olympic Park in Russia. Four teams will represent South Africa at this prestigious world event.
The WRO is a Lego-based global robotics competition for children between 7 and 19 years of age, competing in various age categories to develop their creativity and problem-solving skills. They build challenging Lego structures and program the NXT and EV3 devices.
The boys began robotics three years ago at Maragon. This year they entered the Open Category of which the theme is Robots Assisting Humans in Space.
Their team, Space Invaders and Delta 3, has designed and build a complex and technically advanced robot, which is programmed to be a 3D printer. Their objective is to assist humans on the Mars One Mission.
Maragon congratulates the boys on their outstanding achievement thus far and wish them much success at the WRO in November.
