By Rizal Raoul Reyes
Although it won a silver medal in the 2017 World Robot Olympiad (WRO) in San Jose, Costa Rica, the Philippines still needs to be given the proper support so it can become a powerhouse in the future editions of the competition.
?It was an honor to bring good news and glory to the Philippines,? Mylene Abiva, national organizer and president and CEO of Felta Multi-Media, said in an email interview.
?[But] I think we need to conduct more technical practice sessions and financing for additional robotics kits and accessories. Moreover, we have to expand the reach of the Philippine Robotics Team to more schools in Visayas and Mindanao,? she said.
Saying the performance of the 2017 team was one of the best yet, the Philippine contingent won silver in the Open/Creative Category (Elementary); 5th place in Open/Creative Category (Junior HS); 5th and 6th places in the Regular/Technical Category (College); 6th place in the Regular/Technical Category (Elementary).
Dr. Yanga Colleges Inc., which bagged the silver medal for its entry “Project Silid Aralan”, used renewable energy from turbine-based machine to enable their robot to manufacture chalk from an egg shell-based production process.
Danao, Cebu-based Kepler Insights, which ranked 6th in the Regular/Technical Category Elementary Level, applied artificial intelligence in its project.
?There was a big improvement in both the Open/Creative and Regular/Technical categories. Most teams were in Top 10 in their respective categories participated by 392 teams from 52 countries,” Abiva said, adding local government units shouldered the travel expenses of the team to World Robot Olympiad.
A significant step in boosting the robotics program in the country is the fact that the Science Education Institute of the Department of Science and Technology is offering scholarships to students in the robotics teams, Abiva said.
Meanwhile, the Philippines will host World Robot Olympiad Friendship Invitational in Cebu on August 30-September 2, 2018. Th event expects at least 100 teams from 60 WRO member-countries to participate.
For this year?s theme of ?Sustainabots (Robots for Sustainability)?, 392 teams from 53 countries will be asked to build, test and program robots to show sustainable tourism, carbon neutrality and clean energy.
