The winners of the Slovak round of the FIRST GLOBAL robotics competition are ready for the world finals. High school students from the M. Rúfus High School in Žiar nad Hronom and the Dual Academy in Bratislava joined forces and successfully built a prototype robot with which they will fight for us on September 26 in Athens.
Competitors from 190 countries of the world will meet in the birthplace of the modern Olympics to compete in a somewhat unconventional sport. In the FIRST GLOBAL 2024 competition, students will try to develop robotic solutions that could contribute to more efficient growing and distribution of food around the world. This year’s theme is Feeding The Future.
During the holidays, they programmed the robot
The Slovak national team consists of students from two different schools who joined the team after winning the national round in Košice. After a joint concentration in Poprad, they worked throughout the holidays to program and produce a robot with two controllers. Since the theme of the competition is in the spirit of food sustainability, was named after an important scientist with Slovak roots, Štefan Jedlík. Thanks to his patent for the production of soda water, the first factory of this type was established in Hungary.
“I think that the Slovak team has created a very competitive prototype. In addition to a reliable design, our chances in the competition are increased by a high-quality game strategy.” says Adam Kukla, chairman of FIRST Global Slovakia.
Inspired by a tank
The control of the robot is inspired by the mechanism used by tanks. Each side of the robot accelerates independently, which is convenient when turning quickly. The lifter is based on an elevator system and can reach a height of 173 cm. In order for the students to manage to get as many balls as possible to a height of 120 cm within 2 minutes and 30 seconds, they used an inclined plane with a simple motor mechanism.
“The biggest challenge we faced was clearly the time constraint, as the robot building kit arrived a month ago. Even though we had really little time to plan and build the robot itself, I think the best part of it is the massive lifter.” commented team captain Alexandra Hajdúchová.
In the competitive discipline, robots must place balls representing water and energy (with a diameter of up to 28 cm) into raised containers. For each successfully saved pair of water and energy, food (orange balls) will be produced, which must be taken to the warehouse. The team also gets bonus points for a reliable and balanced design that keeps the robot from tipping over on the platform.
You are watching the progress of our students at the 2024 FIRST Global Challenge live on September 26 – 29. on the link first.global/live.
It will be possible to register for the FIRST Global Slovakia 2025 competition and get a chance to represent Slovakia in the next year of the global competition as early as October 2024.
- Additional information about the FIRST Global competition:
- Presentation of the Slovak team:
- Facebook of the Slovak team here:
- Instagram of the Slovak team here:
- Slovak team’s TikTok here:
FIRST Global Slovakia is a Slovak civic association whose main purpose is to annually select, mentor and accompany the Slovak representation at the International Robotics Olympiad. Our task is to help young people discover and develop their interest not only in robotics, but also in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM – science, technology, engineering, mathematics).
Source: www.nextech.sk
