WORLD ROBOT
OLYMPIAD
Thailand 2018
By Luke Drummond, learner
Monday, 12 November 2018: The ground starts to shake, the floor begins to move and our ears begin to
pop – that’s how it feels when an airplane takes off and how the journey to the World Robot Olympiad
2018 began. Twenty-four hours later our teams arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand (at midnight) after
travelling via Doha and Bangkok.
South Africa was represented by two teams from
Grantleigh: team FarmerBot, consisting of Siyabonga
Mthethwa and Blake Mathieson, and team Front Runners,
consisting of André van Wyk and Luke Drummond. Both
teams were assisted by our coach, Alan Lewis.
The first two days were largely spent on sightseeing and
recovering from the jetlag. Although the sights were
breathtaking, they could not tame their excitement for
the looming competition. The day before the competition
was spent practising. Each team was allowed to test their
robot and to make slight adjustments in the programming,
if necessary. The anticipation in the air was nearly tactile
as the different teams from around the world started
preparing for the competition.
Competition day started with a welcome from the
organisations. Once the competition venue doors
opened, teams set up their stations and were informed of
the day’s surprise rule for each category: an additional 30
points were up for grabs, which was a game-changer! The
day went by quickly and team Front Runners managed
to solve half of the surprise rule, thereby gaining 15
additional points in addition to the full points they scored
for the regular competition run. This placed them in 14th
position overall. Team FarmerBot had a tough start as their
robot’s wheels would not grip to the surface, resulting in
a day of reprogramming and trying to adapt the robot’s
12
build to the new conditions. Robotics is tough.
The second competition day’s surprise rule was that
there were no extra points on offer, but teams would not
get full marks if they did not solve the regular problem
presented. Team Front Runners knew the solution, but
could not complete the required programming in the
time available. Therefore, they did not get full marks.
After adjusting the program, they did not have a lot of
time left and in the very last minutes of testing, the robot
managed to complete a full-marks round.
During the second (and last) scoring round, everything
went well until team Front Runner’s robot missed a line.
They finished in 55th position out of 104 teams. Team
FarmerBot had a more successful second competition day
as they managed to get their robot to stop slipping on the
surface. They finished the competition in 76th position
out of 106 teams in their age group.
And so, the adventure came to an end. The participants
made many new friends from all around the world, learnt
a lot and had an amazing experience that they will surely
always remember. The participants would like to thank
their coach, Alan Lewis, for guiding them throughout
the year. Furthermore, they would like to say a special
thanks to Curro for making this unforgettable experience
possible.
CURRO IN THE CLASSROOM | FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE WORLD | WWW.CURRO.CO.ZA