More than 80 students and teachers comprising 26 teams participate in the two-day Botball workshops
DOHA, QATAR – Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar kicked off the 7th annual Regional Botball Robotics Tournament on January 28 with a workshop in Doha. The 2011 program is being sponsored by Shell, Qatar. Twenty-six teams comprised of middle and high school students took part in the two-day workshop in Doha.
“This is the 7th season of Botball in the Middle East,” said Mohamed Mustafa, academic assistant at Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Botball Technical Advisor in the Middle East. “It is great to see how much reputation this program has gained over the years. With 3 new teams from Qatar joining this year, we have about 26 teams competing from 5 different countries. This program introduces Computer Science and Engineering to high school students in a novel approach. The interaction and collaboration between the students to better understand robotics help the students to prepare for university life by developing their project planning, teamwork and communication skills.”
At the two-day Botball workshop, teachers and students from Carnegie Mellon Qatar taught students from each competing team about current robotic technologies and then worked with the students to apply these skills to design, build and program the competing robots. The students have approximately two months to apply the skills learned at the workshop to build at least one autonomous robot that is able to execute specific tasks required by the competition’s theme.
"For me as a chemistry teacher, joining an international robotics competition, it was kind of an unrealistic idea. Never the less, driven by personal curiosity, I decided to make a team and take on the opportunity provided by Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, and attended the training workshop held at the Qatar campus on January 28 2011. My students and I learnt so many skills that we were able to demonstrate after the workshop.” Said Khalid Ismail, Chemistry Coordinator, Khalifa Independent Secondary School for Boys. “The experience was very interesting and would like to thank all of the pre-college program members for providing this opportunity”.
The theme of this year’s competition is titled” ‘Botville Airport Renovation’, where the students’ must program their robots to perform specific tasks around green energy and sustainability initiatives implemented at an international airport – from baggage management, to bio-fuel storage to erecting a control tower. The teams and their robots will meet in March at Carnegie Mellon Qatar to face off against each other in a series of non-destructive competitions, where points are awarded to the robots that are able to execute the tasks with the best time result.
This year’s tournament is sponsored by Shell. “I am thrilled to see such a high level of participation from students in the Botball program” said Robert Munster, Shell’s Vice President for Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainable Development. “By putting their work into practical use, the program inspires students to study in fields of Computer Science and Engineering, and creates a tangible link between what they learn now and how they can apply it in the future. Technology is at the heart of everything Shell does, and involving students in programs that develop their scientific, computing and technological skills is of great importance. We hope that this will contribute to human development, in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030.”
Countries participating in this year’s regional Botball tournament include Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The Botball Educational Robotics Program aims at engaging middle and high school students in team-oriented robotics competitions. The students who participated in the workshops will meet again on March 25 to showcase their robots and compete in the final regional Botball tournament. The grand prize for the winning team is a trip to the United States in July 2011 to compete in the international Botball tournament and attend the Global Conference on Educational Robotics in the United States.
Participating schools at the Qatar workshop included: (from Qatar) Ahmed Ben Mohammed Al Thani Independent Secondary School, Al Ieman Independent Secondary School for Girls, Al Bayan Independent Secondary School for Girls, Al Khor International School, Al Wakra Independent Secondary School, American School of Doha, Doha College, Doha Independent Secondary School, DPS-Modern Indian School, Hamza Prep Independent School, Khalifa Independent Secondary School, Lebanese School, Lycee Bonaparte, Middle East International School, Omar bin Al Khattab Secondary School for Boys, Qatar Academy and Raba’a Independent Secondary School for Girls. From the region, participating schools were: Al Mawakeb School (Al Barsha – UAE), Al Mawakeb School (Al Garhoud – UAE), Al Riyadh School for Boys (Saudi Arabia), Al Riyadh School for Girls (Saudi Arabia), Al Ry’ya Bilingual School (Kuwait),American Community School of Abu Dhabi (UAE), International School of Arts & Sciences (UAE), Ibn Khuldoon National School (Bahrain), and the British School of Kuwait (Kuwait).
