Guyanese, on Wednesday, awoke to a bit of good national news as three of the seven teams that participated in the International Youth Robotics Competition in Korea were awarded silver and bronze medals. Guyana’s participation was questionable because of the COVID-19 crisis, which was also compounded by financial constraints.
Team Power Thinkers: Rajeshwar Meghbaran and Emelio Persaud and coaches Stephanie Simon and Joshua Reece – Photo Credit: (Guyana Chronicle)
But members of the Guyana diaspora who were determined to ensure that Guyanese junior youths would have an opportunity to showcase their talents globally for the first time sponsored the participation of all the 2020 teams.
The 2020 challenge required junior and senior teams to identify a challenge affecting their community and to create a robot solution to address the challenge.
More than 540 students, comprising 182 teams from 29 countries, participated in the competition. This year was the first time junior teams (8yrs to 13yrs) were prepared for international competition.
Team Lunar earned the silver medal in the junior category. The team created a sanitising robot that used UV lights to kill the COVID-19 virus on the equipment’s surface.
The young team members were Naliah Fordyce, Michael Blake, and Tushaant Sanichara, all of whom being between 10 and 12 years of age. STEMGuyana member Immanual Meusa coached team Lunar.
Bringing home the bronze medal in the junior category was Team Conquerors. Team Conquerors designed and built a robot called the All Terrain Rescuer. The robot can navigate any weather condition to deliver food and medical supplies to a community.
It also serves as an information robot that provides information about the Coronavirus to the villagers. Team Conquerors members were On Beaton, Lucas Simpson, and Rashad Quinti. STEMGuyana member Kenita Roberts coached the team.
In the senior category, Team Power Thinkers won the silver medal. The team included Rajeshwar Meghbaran and Emelio Persaud and was coached by STEMGuyana members Stephanie Simon and Joshua Reece. The team created an automated mask distribution and sanitising robot.
For the fourth year, teams were prepared for global competition by the STEMGuyana organisation, which has a working robotics lab at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. The current laboratory is sponsored by the Department of Youth and the Office of the Prime Minister, which ensures a secure location and internet connectivity for the organisation’s work.
International Youth Robot Competition (IYRC) is an annual youth competition in robotics, programming, and digital technologies, organised by the International Youth Robot Association (IYRA). Previous competitions were held in Korea, Thailand, China, and Malaysia.
IYRA organises the annual event, which consists of 28 states, including the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, South Korea, China, USA, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Israel, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Philippines, and Cambodia. This was the first year Guyana participated.
Guyana is also fielding another senior team currently in competition at the First Global Robotics competition of 180 countries globally. Team Guyana 2020 is presently tracking 32nd place out of 182 teams with opportunities to raise its ranking before the end of the competition in October. Team Guyana won the gold Albert Einstein medal in 2019.
[Extracted and Modified from Guyana Chronicle]
