Bangladesh is the champion in the robotics competition
As soon as I entered the house, I saw a group of children sitting with laptops. Everyone is busy with their own work. The boy named Sujoy Mahmud who opened the door is also one of this group. Sujoy is in class XI of Mangrove School in the capital. All his friends are students of class VIII to XII of different educational institutions in Dhaka. Bangladesh has recently become the champion in the international robotics competition organized by First Global, a non-profit organization based in the United States. Sujoy’s team has represented red-green in this competition of 164 countries. This competition is organized for school-college level students. The winners were announced at the closing ceremony of the online competition on October 31.
To learn to learn
In this big achievement, the interest of the younger team in the work has increased even more. So after a pleasant exchange, they turned their attention to the computer screen again. Sujoy said that dealing with robotics outside of studies is their favorite leisure. Although they are students of different schools, their interest in robotics has made them one.
Since 2016, these children have been regularly participating in the First Global International Competition. In the beginning, the results were not so good. The first year was 7th. In 2016, the place was after 100. Seventh in 2019. And this year Bajimat! What is the secret to rapid success in the last two years? Sujoy said, ‘From the beginning, we could do good computer programming. But I was lagging behind mechanically. The last two years have put more emphasis on this part. And I have tried to learn something new by watching the competitors from other countries. ‘
The winning team members are: Rajin Ali (Class XII, Sir John Wilson School), Sujoy Mahmood (Class XI, Mangrove School), Mahi Zarif (Class X, International Hope School), Shahriar Simant (Class X, DPS STS School), Abrar Jawad (10th class, Bangladesh International School and School), Ayman Rahman (8th class, Bangladesh International School and School), Bianka Hasan (12th class, Dhanmondi Tutorial), Aribah Nawar Anwar (8th class, South Bridge School), Fairuz Hafiz Farin ( Class XII, Mastermind School) and Zahra Chowdhury (Class VIII, Sunbeams School).
Robotics to play tricks
Everyone in the team started learning programming, animation, robotics at an organization called The Tech Academy. Robotics for 60 more children around the age of the members of the winning team have been handed over to this organization. The Tech Academy teaches these things to school children through funny tricky video games.
Shoaib Mirza, one of the instructors at The Tech Academy, said they try to work with inspiration from the techniques used in everyday life. For example, he has created a kind of robot with the idea of sewing machine technology, with the help of which various products can be automatically transferred to the factory.
This time there was a special device to stay afloat in the competition. Which will protect small children from drowning. It is worn like a locket around the neck. When the part of the pendant comes in contact with water, it automatically swells to the shape of a balloon. As a result, if the locket is around the neck, the child will remain floating. At the same time, a message will reach the parent’s mobile phone stating the child’s location.
This innovation has made the main difference between the Bangladesh team with others. They got maximum of 30 points in the ‘Technical Challenge’ stage of the competition. The other two steps সংগ্রহ Social Media Challenge and Q&A সংগ্রহ collected a total of 118 points. Second and third place Chile and Algeria have 115 and 112 points respectively.
Covid control robot
The winning team made a 30-second short animated film and a music video titled Connecting People in the Social Media Challenge step. The characters in the animated film were designed by Bianca Hasan of Class XII and Zahra Chowdhury of Class VIII. They also had the responsibility of software design in the competition.
Besides, they have made a robot named Covitron-1 keeping in mind the coronavirus. With the help of this robot controlled by Wi-Fi, it is possible to deliver food, medicine, and other small things to a person safely by ensuring social distance.
Hundreds of countries take part in this international robotics competition which started in 2016 every year. The competition is basically organized in the style of the Olympics. The participating countries send delegations one by one. So the competition is known as the high school level robotics Olympics.
First Global’s event is to inspire young people interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Students between the ages of 14 and 18 from any country in the world can take part in the competition. Previous competitions have been held in the United States, Mexico and Dubai. However, this time the entire competition stage is online due to the Corona epidemic.
For almost four years, most of the members of the winning team have been learning programming, robotics, etc. together. Shams Jaber, the founder and trainer of The Tech Academy, thinks that this is one of the reasons for the success this time. They also said that they are trying to organize the first global national level robotics competition in Bangladesh next year.
