Pitogo High School, last year?s Rookie Awardee and Best Team, once again proved its might as it dominated the ?2014 Tagisang Robotics: Design, Build and Play Competition.?
The team, composed of 10 students and two teachers, put on an almost flawless performance to lead all its alliances to successive triumphs and close the elimination round with five wins and one draw, topping all other 34 teams who battled in what could be the last edition of the competition.
The games, organized by the Science Education Institute (SEI) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), were held on 29-30 October at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.
With the win, Pitogo High School brought home P100,000 cash prize, P30,000 for their coach, along with a trophy and medals.
Likewise, the alliance of Pitogo HS, former Best Team awardee Grace Christian College, and Rizal High School cruised past the alliance of Victorino Mapa High School, Philippine Science High School ? Main, and Rizal National Science High School in the final round with a perfect 2-0 record to be named as the Best Alliance.
They brought home P150, 000 cash prize, P30,000 for their coaches, medals for students and trophies for their schools.
SEI director Josette Biyo said the teams played hard using their ?tactically designed? robots, putting into good use the months ? and for some, years ? of training in the competition.
?Four years in and we?re happy with how far our schools have mastered not only the mechanics of the game, but also the value of teamwork. We?re proud to have witnessed their growth ever since day one,? sad Biyo.
With its clear impact in promoting robotics as a field, Biyo expressed enthusiasm in finding a sponsor to organize another round of Tagisang Robotics next year hoping to continue inspiring children to go into the sciences.
?That has been our goal, to continue motivating our students to take the path of science and technology as we need more scientists and engineers. We have our scholarship programs that can help them do so and we feel that by continuing this project we will be able to inspire more students to be science professionals in the future,? she added.
Tagisang Robotics is considered the toughest robotics competition in the country that uses industry type platform and involves training the students in electronics, programming and robot building. The SEI plans to seek partnership with the private sector to sustain its implementation in the coming years.
Meanwhile, SEI announced its plan to launch the first ever Can Satellite Competition in the country next year. The CanSat Competition is being organized in many countries to promote space science among children as well as college students.
It allows students to have first-hand experience of a real space mission beginning with the design, building, testing, launching, data analysis, and presentation of results.
?With the CanSat Competition, we want to inspire our kids in the field of space science especially in this age where satellite applications are in its highest importance to all of us. Hopefully, we can launch that program as well as continue the 5thTagisang Robotics next year,? said Biyo.
