On 27 and 28 April the city of Olot hosted this year’s edition of Robolot, which has become firmly established as the country’s main educational robotics competition at secondary school level. The event combined educational activities (educational robotics seminars for teachers and workshops for young people) and entertainment, with the competition for robots built and controlled by students.
The very latest in robotics
The educational robotics seminar, which was held on Saturday 27 at Olot’s Casal Marià, brought together experts from all over Spain who presented the latest developments and experiences in the field of robotics. The seminar, the only one of its kind in Spain, was attended by more than a hundred teachers from Catalonia and beyond who listened to talks given by experts from the Basque Country, Cantabria, Segovia, Madrid and Alicante, among other places. A group of teachers and students from Wales also took an active part in the seminar.
The educational robotics seminar provided an opportunity to present the latest technology applied to education. Two of the key innovations this year were 3D printing, which offers students a practical way to turn their designs into reality, and the use of the Android platform to control the robots built by students.
Robolot 2013 also aimed to involve younger children and offered robotics workshops for children aged six and above.
A competition that pushes the boundaries
In addition to learning about robotics in the workshops offered by Robolot, the students taking part also had the opportunity to show off their creations and compete against each other in the educational robotics competition that was held on the afternoon of the 27th and the morning of the 28th at Sala Torín in Olot. The competition was divided into six categories (tracking, mini-sumo, Lego, Lego mini-sumo, open category and non-category robots) which in turn had subgroups for the different participant ages.
One important new feature of Robolot 2013 is that it extended its frontiers and opened up the competition to students from outside Catalonia. This new format was a great success and the event welcomed participants from seven autonomous communities and even from outside Spain, providing yet another demonstration of Robolot’s increasing relevance.
Prizes committed to knowledge
This year’s edition of Robolot offered more prizes than ever and gave students the chance to gain useful experience to complement their education. Thus, the winners of the open category and non-category robot challenges will have the opportunity to attend the IMPULSA Forum, which is organised by the Prince of Girona Foundation.
Furthermore, the two centres that won the most prizes throughout the competition were also, respectively, awarded a one-week stay at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and a five-day stay at the University of Girona’s submarine robotics laboratory (Empar Garrido Prize).
