Tras Rustamaji, the principal of TechnoNatura Madrasah, noted in a press statement received by ANTARA on Friday that robotics has been part of the learning process of the students, and the team comprised 10 students and three mentors, since elementary level.
TechnoNatura students have won several awards at regional and national robotics competitions; hence, the US Embassy in Jakarta had recommended them to participate in the FIRST Global Challenge.
In the competition themed "Access to Clean Water," the participants had to design and create a robot that can clean the river of waste. During the contest, the river water was simulated using blue balls and the waste with orange balls.
The winners were the robots that got the best points in the waste separation competition.
In addition to the competition, which was based on collecting points, the committee bestowed eight awards in several qualitative categories, such as the Zang Heng Award for engineering process, Ustadz Lahori Award for innovation and creativity, as well as Einstein Award for overall engineering performance.
"From the beginning, we wanted to build a robot that can not only collect big points but also win other awards. Hence, our design of Wowwi (the robots name) was optimally made using available components," Rustamaji remarked.
Wowwi is different from other robots. While the other robots collected the ball and carried it to the target, this robot fired it on the target.
The Wowwi robot is equipped with a turret that can rotate and launcher that can rise and fall to form the desired elevation angle. Wowwi garnered praises from the jury visitors and pitstop Indonesian team.
The Education and Culture AttachE of the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC. Prof. Ismunandar noted that the embassy was always striving to support such a competition.
"We are optimistic that the robotics teams achievement would also motivate Indonesian students in the US," Ismunandar added.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
