Greenside School Rap’s the Scrap in India

January 2017 News

The World Robot Olympiad is an initiative that brings together young people from all over the world to develop their creativity and problem-solving skills through challenging and educational robotics competitions. Schools are invited to enter a team of three students to participate. Teams have to create, design and build a robot model that solves a specific problem.

Last year’s competition was held in Delhi, India, from 25 to 27 November and over 500 teams competed – having made it through the regional and national stages in their home countries – against over 22 000 teams worldwide. South Africa sent a contingent of 81, including 15 teams, 15 coaches and 14 judges and referees.

Two teams from Greenside School made it all the way through. Motion Control magazine caught up with them as they went through their final presentations before leaving for India. They were under the guidance of Danie Heymans from Hands On Technologies, a member of the national organising team: Hands On Technologies provided the equipment and the SAIMC contributed R30 000 towards the robots.

The theme was recycling – Rap the Scrap. In the primary division, Dilan Naran (grade 6) and Aydin Kauchali (grade 4) built the Lazy Bin, an automatic recycling bin that reads barcodes and sorts litter into different receptacles for recycling. In the junior high division, Andy Owethu Sobuwa, Mohammed Ridwaan Kai and Ubaidullah Sajied Brown developed a robot with infrared sensors that can approach customers in a fast food restaurant, for example, and tell them where to put the different categories of recyclable materials (paper, cups, tray and organics). They are then rewarded by getting a Minecraft card so they can make a game of it, play with friends and swap cards. “This motivates them to recycle their waste,” explains Andy.

The enthusiasm of these bright young people and the dedication of their coaches augers well for the future.

For more information contact Danie Heymans, Hands On Technologies, +27 (0)11 462 2851, danie@handsontech.co.za, www.wrosa.co.za

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