“RoboKnights”, the Robotics Club of DPS R. K. Puram hosted the nationals of the International RoboCup Junior Robotics Competition in association with LS Creative Learning, Bangalore, on the 23rd and 24th of January 2016. The annual RoboCup Junior held across the globe aims to provide a platform for students of primary and secondary school to showcase their technical skills. The 22 teams from schools located in states of India, that participated at the national level did so after qualifying in the zonals, and the winning team will represent India in Germany.
The Chief Guest at the occasion was Mr. Renye Kikuchi, the Director of Learning Systems Co. Ltd., Japan, who directly manages the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) education in schools of many countries and provides LEGO education teaching materials to classrooms. The operating hand of this project in India is “LS Creative Learning” Bangalore. Mr. David Prakash, founder trustee of “Indian RoboCup Junior Foundation” and the Head of “LS Creative Learning”, who works to provide materials and robotics teachers to schools across India and was the Guest of Honour at the occasion. Also present were the Vice Principals, Mrs.Shobha Mehta, Ms. Vanita Sehgal, Ms. Padma Srinivasan; the Head of the computer science department, Mr. Mukesh Kumar; computer teacher, Ms. Sarika Kaushal; and the robotics teacher-cum-coordinator of the event, Mr. Ajith Kumar KG.
The programme commenced with the lighting of the lamp and the felicitation of the guests by the Vice Principal, Mrs.Shobha Mehta. The Vice Principal welcomed the guests and the participants and spoke about striking a balance between the pros and cons of the digital world. This was followed by an enthralling rendition of a Japanese poem and a mesmerising Odissi performance by class 9 students, Vishrut Malik and Pranati respectively. The Chief Guest, Mr. Renye Kikuchi, discussed the future of robotics. Mr. David Prakash thanked the school for training the participants and volunteering to host the competition, and stressed upon the importance of friendly competition among students.
The students were led to the venue, where on the first day they were engaged in practice sessions in which they assembled and perfected their respective robots. On the second day, the competitive event took place. The theme of the competition was to make a robot for rescuing the victims of natural calamity. The robots had to follow a line, avoid obstacles and pick up balls representing injured victims of calamity and place and transport it to a safe zone. The team “Robo Wizards” emerged as the victors. “APS Sentinels” came second and “Ahlconite 3” bagged the third position. Mr. Dhaval Mehta, trustee of Indian RoboCup Junior Foundation (IRCJF) from west zone was the judge.
The event was an enriching experience for all and left the students with a bigger passion to excel in and promote the field of robotics.