Five high school students from Campana will go to the 2022 Robotics World Cup

A delegation of 5 Argentine students from the Roberto Rocca de Campana Technical School will participate in the First Global Challenge 2022 Robotics World Cup. This competition, in which nearly a thousand young people from more than 190 countries will be present, will take place in Geneva, Switzerland , from October 13 to 16.

The Argentines who will travel to be part of this meeting are Delfina Mosqueira (18), Marcos Giovannelli (16), Mauricio Garavani (18), Nicolás Bassin (18) and Emanuel Albornoz (18).

“This is the sixth consecutive year that Argentina is part of the First Global Challenge. In each edition, teams of 5 Argentine students participated. That is, 25 in total. In 2021, Argentina came to occupy 7th place”, highlights Mosqueira, in dialogue with La Nación.

For his part, Garavani recalls that they have been working on this initiative for a few months now. “We have been preparing for the competition since July 2022. 

Since then, we have met from Monday to Saturday at school to be able to work on the robot with which we will participate in the competition,” he says.

How is the competition

The First Global Challenge is an international robotics competition that takes place every year in a different country. The condition to participate in this competition is to be in high school and be between 14 and 18 years old. Additionally, teams must be comprised of a minimum of three students and one adult mentor.

Each team must build and program a robot to compete. The idea is that the groups work together to complete the tasks that must be carried out within the framework of a thematic game in which an important challenge is posed.

In this edition the challenge is the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2), a greenhouse gas that causes the temperature of the Earth's surface to rise, with all the harmful effects that this implies for the planet. In this game, the teams' robots are arranged on a playing field. There they must capture and store the carbon that is symbolically represented by little black balls that are thrown on the surface.

In this way, it seeks to convey the message of the importance of teamwork to deal with an environmental problem that is causing the melting of glaciers, desertification of fertile areas, floods and increasingly devastating hurricanes.

"The teams will learn about the impact of CO2 on our environment and the technologies that are being developed and are already underway, to guarantee the safety of our planet in the future," summarizes Matias Scovotti, co-founder of Educabot, who was in charge training and education of the young people who will participate in the challenge.

Educabot is the Argentine partner of the First Global Challenge Robotics World Cup, and every year it coordinates and accompanies the team of boys that represents the country. 

This year, due to equipment issues that exceed the organization, it was not possible to carry out the national competition to define the team that will represent Argentina in this World Cup. 

For this reason and to guarantee that the country would participate in the international event, it was decided to summon the team that came in second place in the 2021 Robotics Cup to represent the country.

To design the robots, the teams participating in the World Cup use an educational robotics kit that includes all the necessary mechanical, electrical and software components. 

The kit students receive is divided into a building component and a programming component. The language used to program the robots is Java.

“This allowed us to get closer and be much more united as a team. I think that is one of our greatest strengths,” says Bassin. And Giovannelli adds: “In addition, having the support of the school was essential. They gave us the space and the resources. We feel the permanent accompaniment of the entire educational community.”

From First Global Challenge they highlight the importance of instilling collaborative work for problem solving. That is the main objective of this challenge in which technology works as a cohesive element to reach a common goal.

"We seek to bring together young people from diverse backgrounds, cultures and experiences and inspire and motivate them to become the leaders and innovators of the future, working together to build a better world," reads the official website of said entity.

What will they do if they win? “Continue looking for new challenges that allow us to continue developing ourselves, both professionally and personally. It would be an honor to be able to bring the cup to our country”, remarks Emanuel.

The nation that wins the contest will be established as the best robotics team in the world and will receive a trophy. In addition, there are several mentions depending on the number of points that are accumulated over the course of the event.

"The team doesn't necessarily have to be the best robotics team in the country," Scovotti warns, "but it should be a cohesive group that understands the value of cooperation, diplomacy, and problem solving."