From left: Sheikh Faisal bin Fahad al-Thani, HE Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi, CNA-Qatar dean Dr Theodore Chiasson, and CNA-Q president Dr Ken MacLeod with some of the winners of the 2014 Qatar National Robot Olympiad. PICTURE: Thajudheen
By Peter Alagos/Business Reporter
An official of Maersk Oil Qatar has expressed optimism that the winners of the 2014 Qatar National Robot Olympiad would become the country’s next generation of leaders, specifically in the nation’s energy industry.
“Talented engineers and scientists are the lifeblood of Qatar’s energy industry … and I’m convinced many of those who participated and competed at the Qatar National Robot Olympiad will form the next generation of leaders in our country,” said Sheikh Faisal bin Fahad al-Thani, deputy managing
director, Maersk Oil Qatar.
Sheikh Faisal was among the officials who accompanied the Minister of Education and Higher Education and Secretary-General of the Supreme Education Council (SEC) HE Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi during awarding ceremony of the two-day Olympiad, which concluded yesterday at the Aspire Ladies Sports Hall.
After congratulating the winners, the minister noted that more than 400 information and communications (ICT), mathematics, and physics teachers received training in robotics this year, which exposed more students in schools all over the country to robotics.
This year’s winners in the open category were Newton International School (elementary), Khalid bin Ahmad Preparatory School for Boys (junior high school), and American School of Doha (senior HS).
Dominating the regular category were American School of Doha (elementary), AbuBakr Assedeeq Preparatory Independent Boys (junior HS), and American
School of Doha (senior HS).
The competition also saw the inaugural games for Gen II Football with the Philippine School Doha clinching the gold and silver awards followed by Dukhan English School, whose team took home the bronze award.
When asked about the reception of most schools to the holding the Gen II Football for the first time in the competition, Dr Theodore Chiasson, dean of information technology at the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar, said he expects “a huge uptake” next year.
“I’m expecting that Gen II is going to explode. I think most schools will want to get involved in this robot soccer because it is so interesting. We had 20 teams participating this year and we did that by selectively inviting schools that had already some experience with robotics because the technology is evolving,” Chiasson told Gulf Times at the sidelines of the closing ceremony.
According to Chiasson, the competition tested students’ problem solving, engineering and programming skills as well as teamwork and initiative. He added that each team was tasked with building and programming Lego Mindstorms robots under strict time limits and without the assistance of their coaches.
“We’ve experienced a 70% growth every year. Last year had 155 teams competing while this year, we had 217 teams for the competition … and 217 is an excellent
number,” Chiasson said.
