The Foundation called “Every good book is a teacher of the nation” has been promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and the importance of learning through RobotOlympics since 2012, where different teams and their robots compete against each other in five different events.
In the István Bocskai Secondary School in Hajdúböszörmény that regularly hosts the competition, children aged between 10 and 19 gather year after year to compete with the robots they build. The teams receive the tasks in advance, so during their preparation for the competition, they have the opportunity to introduce themselves to the entire spectrum of the technical field, which is very important in today’s world, starting from the birth of an idea, through design and construction, all the way to testing. Students gather such useful infromation that they can later apply in subjects like mathematics, physics, computer science, and digital culture.
During the program set-up, the organisers aimed to present the teams and robots with various challenges, thereby making the competition as intriguing as possible. The robots will compete in a total of five events: steeplechase, darts, maze, sumo, and slalom. In steeplechase, it is speed; in darts, it ’s accuracy; in sumo, its strength and creativity are the qualities that can help robots lead their teams to victory. The competitors’ task is to build and program a robot that possesses all these capabilities, utilizing all their innovation. However, certain details (e.g., the placement of obstacles) will only become apparent on-site for the teams, so it is necessary to further adapt the robots to the specific requirements and the environment. The competition is completely public, and the audience present at the venue cheering for the students provides significant encouragement for them.
The support of the Territorial and Settlement Development Operational Programme (TOP) has also contributed to the continuation of this increasingly popular event, which is now becoming a tradition. The popularity of the program is indicated by the fact that year after year, more and more teams participate in the competition, coming not only from Hajdú-Bihar County but also from other regions of the country. The Robot Olympics has grown into one of the largest national robot competitions attracting a huge audience.
Thanks to the initiative, students can experience the fascinating world of one of the leading sciences of the 21st century, meet other students, build connections, and at the same time, acquire knowledge in a playful manner that may be useful in their school studies or later in their careers.
The development was implemented from EU funding in the project TOP-7.1.1-16-H-ESZA-2019-00093 under the Territorial and Settlement Development Operational Programme.
Find out more about the project in the Project Finder:Details
