Over 300 teams from elementary, middle and senior schools from across the country are expected to attend the 2016 Qatar National Robot Olympiad (NRO), sponsored by Maersk Oil Qatar and hosted by College of the North Atlantic – Qatar (CNA-Q).
This year’s competition will take place in two phases, with the first event featuring the Regular category and Gen II football competitions that will take place at the Ladies Sports Dome at Aspire on November 25 and 26. The second phase will take place in the following weekend, on December 2 and 3, on the CNA-Q campus and will involve the open category and advanced robotics challenge.
The National Robot Olympiad and associated schools programme, Go Robot, has been supported by Maersk Oil Qatar since 2012 as part of the company’s commitment to promote and enhance science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in Qatar.
The Go Robot programme, which is delivered by CNA-Q, has trained 400 teachers to deliver robotics training in classrooms across Qatar. The programme has provided 600 robotics kits and 200 game tables to schools this year alone. Since 2012, approximately 10,000 students and more than 250 schools have participated in Go Robot and the NRO, according to a press statement.
During the National Robot Olympiad, students will be tasked with building and programming Lego Mindstorms robots under strict time limits to complete a set of challenges. With the support and guidance of teachers, educators and mentors, participating students have spent the past year training to design and programme the best and most versatile robots they can.
The NRO will test the limits of their problem-solving, engineering and programming skills as well as their teamwork. The theme of the Open Category this year is ‘Rap the Scrap’, which focuses on the reuse and recycling of waste materials.
Lewis Affleck, managing director of Maersk Oil Qatar, said: “Go Robot supports teachers’ professional development and enhances skills in STEM subjects, and I am excited to see all this learning and hard work come to life at the National Robot Olympiad.”
Dr Ken MacLeod, president of CNA-Q, said: “The NRO provides a platform for students to demonstrate what they have learned over the course of the Go Robot programme, and engage in friendly competition with their peers.”