Dagupan is known for its milkfish or bangus, the country’s national fish.Come November, the city may become be popular for something else. After all, it will host its first-ever Robotics Science Fair after the Science Education Institute and the city government inked an agreement to hold the event.
The collaboration, which aims to inculcate scientific innovation and robotics learning among the kids of Dagupan City and other areas of Pangasinan, was the result of a partnership that started when SEI celebrated the World Space Week in the city in 2011.
The city and the institute will organize the activities such as robotics exhibits, demo games, training, water rocket launching competition and fun science learning as components of the 1st Dagupan City Robotics Science Fair slated on November 6 to 7.
“Robotics is definitely a field that is increasingly becoming vital in our industries that’s why we are happy of this move from a local government unit,” SEI’s Josette Biyo said in a statement. “We are happy to serve the people of Dagupan by bringing the Science Explorer and Tagisang Robotics platforms in the event.”
For her part, Dagupan City mayor Belen Hernandez said that the city organized the activity “because we would like to help our schools develop their capability in science and technology especially in robotics. We tapped SEI because they have existing programs on these and we already have a good partnership.
The winning teams of the “2014 Tagisang Robotics: Design, Build and Play Competition” which will be held late in October will get to showcase their robots during the fair.
A demonstration game will be done to expose the students of Dagupan in the actual application of robotics engineering. Students will also have the chance to control the robots in trial matches under the guidance of the Tagisang Robotics winners. Key players in robotics industry and education will also have a chance to exhibit their products and technology during the Science Fair.
Also serving as highlight would be the Robotics Training Program using Lego Mindstorm for both elementary and high school students and teachers. Simultaneous sessions of the Science Explorer — the SEI?s mobile science laboratory will also be held to boost science interest and appreciation among the kids. Finally, the event will be capped off with the conduct of a Water-boosted Rocket Competition for elementary and high school students.
