Staff Reporter
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMUQ) will host its second international Botball challenge on May 27 at the City Center.
Qatar is the first country outside the US to host a Botball challenge.
In preparation for the event, student teams from six high schools have completed an intensive two-day workshop at CMUQ.
The workshop provided the teams with the necessary background expertise to build and programme their very own robots.
All teams must have their autonomous robots completed by May 27 to compete at the 2006 Botball challenge.
The challenge will be judged by representative of Nasa and a member of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute staff.
Botball is a discipline designed to engage students in robotics through the application of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The Botball workshop provides students with the necessary tools to build a robot such as: sensors, motors, customised robot computers, LEGO pieces, software and documentation. It also encourages technology awareness, system engineering, mechanical principles, C programming, Internet research, scientific methods, design and creativity.
“We’re delighted to have so many teams competing at the Botball challenge, including some new teams this year,” CMUQ Dean Charles E Thorpe has said.
Botball is a wonderful way to learn not just about robots, but about computers, and mathematics, and engineering; and the students learn the value of hard work and of working together in teams, he explained.
The success of last year’s first international botball challenge saw Qatar Academy emerge as the winner, scoring the highest overall points.
The growing interest in Botball has been reflected in the increased number of schools participating this year. They include Al Khor International School, American School in Doha, Amnah Bint Wahhab Independent S.S.G., Doha College, International School of Choueifat and Omar Bin Al Khattab Scientific School.
“This is the second time we are competing at the Botball challenge, this reflects our strong belief in robotic technology,” Omar Bin Al Khattab Scientific School’s physics teacher Imad Abo Yousef said.
“Botball has provided our students with the opportunity to carefully consider the implications science, technology, engineering and mathematics have on the effectiveness of their robots,” he added.
It was DrThorpe and his son Leland who established the Botball robotics club in Qatar in 2004 and helped form Botball clubs in a number of secondary schools.
The Qatar programme was inspired by a US Botball programme developed in 1993 by the KISS Institute for Practical Robotics (KIPR).
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