Making the first-ever appearance in the World Robot Games Championship to be held in Thailand this Thursday, a team of four high school students from Thimphu is leaving for the competition tomorrow.
The World Robot Games is an international robotics competition held annually for all ages of participants to promote science, technology and innovation.
Weighing almost three kilograms, it took the two boys from Pelkhil School and two girls from Druk School two months to build the robots, costing them nearly Nu 40,000. Thanks to the sponsors who not only helped them build the robots but participate in the upcoming world championship after receiving an invitation from the World Robot Games Championship.
In February this year, two young technology enthusiasts from Pelkhil and Utpal Academy have made a robot, ‘scrapbot’, weighing almost 35 kilograms out of scraps to compete in the Yantra Science, Tech and Entrepreneurship festival in Nepal. They were eliminated in the semi-final.
“My teammates went to Nepal this year in the beginning and the robot was made out of scraps. And it wasn’t as efficient and as effective with those robots that were already there. So keeping that in mind, with the help of our sponsors, we ordered things from online through DrukBees and then we made our robots with new components. So we are hoping that our robot will put a good fight with those robots from other countries this time,” said Jetsen Patruel Gyelpo, one of the creators of the robots from Druk School.
Four robots, they created, will take part in the Rugby Robot category and fight against 29 teams from ten countries. Rugby is a team sport where a plum-shaped ball is brought to the end goal to score. The game will have four robots on each side trying to go after the same ball to score the goal and win the match. Representing Bhutan for the first time in the competition, the team feel that this is just the beginning for the country.
“The world is evolving really fast and learning this is going to help us in the future when other countries develop. I think it’s going to help in the country’s development with robotics because robotics is the future. From everyday driving a car, the laptop we use, the printers, they are all technology and then we have to keep up with the times that are changing,” she added.
If they win the competition, they will get a cash prize of ฿300,000 Thai Baht.
