Monitoring of the quantity of water during agricultural irrigation to avoid waste. Prevention of forest fires by keeping humidity, temperature and wind speed under control. Control of seismic activity by analyzing damage to structures. These are the three winning projects of the Robotics Olympics, organized by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with the School of Robotics. The fifth edition ended on Tuesday afternoon with the awarding of the schools that presented the most valid projects. About 100 teams competing - of three students each - in the first selection phase. In 30 those who faced the final.
“We all experienced a particular and difficult school year, characterized by the closure of the school due to the pandemic - said Minister Lucia Azzolina, greeting all the participants in the initiative -. Precisely for this reason the awarding of this competition has an even higher value because it is a further demonstration that, despite the difficulties, the school community has been able to huddle and move forward. I thank the students for their participation which I know was, like every year, very intense and of great quality. Thanks to the teachers and families who accompanied the 'Olympians' in the preparation and in the various stages of the competition ".
This year the Olympics have been transformed into an online hackathon to allow all enrolled students to participate remotely, due to the health emergency. The boys were asked to carry out a robotic project aimed at analyzing the environment and collecting data and creating a national network between the participating schools to accumulate and analyze the environmental data collected during the tests.
Among the objectives of the competition: the conception, design and construction of prototypes of robots capable of performing useful functions to improve the environmental conditions of our planet and human living conditions, thanks to the development of tools capable of collect data sensitively in hard-to-reach places.
To frame the challenge of the children, a seminar with the participation of numerous guests with interventions related to the use of robotics in the environmental field and beyond.
All the projects presented during the National Final were open source, with the possibility of being replicated, modified and reproduced to provide inspiration to other students on the national territory.
The winning teams
For the 'Air' category: the 'GREEN BOT' team of the “ITI - ITG” Higher Education Institute of Vibo Valentia.
For the 'Earth' category: the 'ATP' team of the "Arcangelo Scacchi" scientific high school in Bari.
For the category 'Water': the 'SENSO' team of the "John Fitzgerald Kennedy" Technical Institute in Pordenone.