DSP Jahrbuch 2016

Two DSP robotics teams have been invited to
participate at the World Robot Olympiad 2016 in
New Delhi, India.
For the past years the learners at the DSP have improved their skills
in building and programming LEGO robots significantly. Five of the
learners won their categories in the national league of the WRO and
were selected to represent South Africa at the international robotics
Olympiad 2016 in New Delhi , India. (more info below)
Robotic soccer
We have all witnessed a soccer game, but have you ever seen robots
playing soccer? Three learners from the Deutsche Internationale
Schule Pretoria, Abdurrahman Altintas (13), Jens Adrian (13) and
Jean Groenewald (13), have built a robotic soccer team consisting
of one striker and one goalie that play autonomously (without
remote control) against another team of two robots. Their robotic
soccer team The Hackers will play against other soccer teams from
all over the world. They programmed the robots using inputs from
a compass sensor, infrared sensor, touch sensor and light sensor to
orient their robots on the playing field, detecting the ball and either
defending the goal or kicking goals.
Simulating recycling
Recycling is vital to saving our environment. Matthew Whaley (11)
and Damien Goncalves (11) have designed a robot that can collect
different blocks. This is the challenge of the elementary category of
the WRO 2016 competition. Their team INFERNOES was also invited
to participate in the international competition in India in November.
TWO ROBOTICS TEAMS FROM THE DSP PARTICIPATED IN INDIA
From 25-27 November 2016 five learners in two teams took part in
the World Robot Olympiad in New Delhli, India. The teams consisted
of Matthew Whaley, Damien Goncalves, who competed in the
Elementary Category, and Abdurraham Altintas, Jean Groenewald
and Jens Adrian participated in the robotic soccer category.
What is the WRO
The World Robot Olympiad is a global LEGO Robotics competition.
It is an event that brings young people from all over the world
together. This event combines the world of science, engineering,
technology and education. Teams of youngsters get the opportunity
to develop their creative and problem solving skills through various
robotics challenges.
The Olympiad started in 2004 and was presented for the first time
in Singapore. Currently 35 countries with almost 16,000 teams are
participating in this event. Each participating country has its own
competition and the best teams of each country are invited to
attend and compete at the World Robot Olympiad.
What is the format of the Olympiad?
The Olympiad consists of the following categories:
• A regular category – The fastest robot through an obstacle
course
• A second generation football competition
• An open category – A robot representing a specific theme
Regular category – Fastest robot through course
The objective of this category is for teams to strategize, design
and build a robot that is able to complete tasks successfully
while negotiating through an obstacle course. Each successfully
completed task has a score value and the team with the highest
score and the shortest time will be crowned as the winner.
Teams can design, build and program their robots before the
event. They can have unlimited test runs in their preparation for the
competition.
A second generation football competition
This is a football competition played by two teams consisting of
two autonomous robot players each. The game consists of two ten
minute halves. Teams will play all the other teams at least twice
and then according to number of wins, goals for and goals against
teams will compete in a knock out competition. The team with the
highest number of goals at the end is the winning team.
Appreciation sponsors and support teams
We are thankful for the wonderful and generous support of our
main sponsor BOSCH who supported us in participating at the WRO
in New Delhli, India. We also appreciate the special assistance of the
Deutsche Internationale Schule Pretoria.
110 DSP Jahrbuch 2016