By Paul Eduarko Richardson
Accra, July 14, GNA – The Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation (GRAF) has held the National Robotics inspired Science Education (RiSE) Competition towards developing problem-solving abilities in children and young people.
The 2024 edition, which took place at the Christ the King Parish Hall in Accra, also served as the National Qualifiers for the World Robot Olympiad.
Centred on the interaction between robots, humans and the environment, the competition brought together participants from various primary, junior high and senior high schools in Ghana.
Represented by teams, competitors performed tasks under three categories designated Robomission, Future Innovators, and Robosports.
Robomission category involved contestants building robots to mimick how to embark on construction and collect debris after a natural disaster.
The elementary section of this category saw Terra Trons team placing first, Robo Crafters, second, and Green Guardians placing third, with all three teams coming from Mikrobot Academy, Accra.
Under the Junior section, Neo-Nexus from Mikrobot Academy, Accra and Tema Warriors from Mikrobot Academy, Tema, both came first, with Robotrons from Mikrobot Academy, Kumasi, placing third.
Robomission for the Senior section saw Interceptors from Prempeh College, Kumasi, placing first, Cipher from Our Lady of Grace Senior High School, second, with Nexus also from Our Lady of Grace Senior High School placing third.
Future Innovators category had Adenta Science Club emerging first under the Elementary section while St Augustine’s College, Cape Coast, came first under the Senior section.
In Robosports, where participants’ robots were tested on how fast they could execute a task, Catalyst team from Our Lady of Grace SHS placed first, whereas Hive from Kumasi came second, with Gladiators from Prempeh College placing third.
The best teams in the 2024 edition would represent Ghana at the World Robot Olympiad in November 2024 in Turkey, while other teams would represent Ghana in friendlies in Italy from September 24 to 28.
Dr Yaw Okraku-Yirenkyi, founding member and Country Director, GRAF, highlighted the importance of the competition, saying, it enabled children to acquire technical abilities by applying what they had learnt in the classroom to solve problems around.
He added that children also learnt soft skills like discipline, team work, time management, tolerance and friendship as they designed, built, and programmed robots.
“The competition is fun for children and very fulfilling for parents,” he noted.
Dr Okraku-Yirenkyi emphasised that lack of sponsorhip was a major challenge in organising the robotic competitions and thus called on corporate bodies, philanthropic organisations and individuals to support the GRAF to do more.
Mr Michael Wilson, Trainer, GRAF, encouraged children to develop skills in robotics, sayin: “It will give them clear opportunity to become frontiers of tomorrow’s world.”
Frederick Ohemeng Cudjoe, one of the contestants from Prempeh College, said participating in the robotics competition had enabled him to improve on his strategic and critical thinking abilities.
Other teams that participated in the 2024 RiSE competition were Two Spikes, MakersPlace; Secret Code, Kumasi; Kyoshi Warriors and Control X, Mikrobot Academy, Accra; and Megatrons, Mikrobot Academy, Kumasi.
The rest were Raiders and Augusco Robots, St Augustine’s College; Jaytron, Apam Senior High School; Nano Panthers, Labone SHS; MM24, Koforidua Senior High Technical; and Kiran and Akofena, Prempeh College.
GNA