Colégio Farroupilha, from Porto Alegre, participated in the Sinos Valley Challenge, a friendly robotics event from First Tech Challenge (FTC), aimed at young people aged 13 to 18. In its 3rd edition, the competition featured the participation of four students from the Lösungsjäguer #21342 team, from Farroupilha, who won 1st place in the Robot Design modality, in addition to 1st place in the individual ranking and also formed one of the alliances of semi-finals. The contest was held at Colégio Marista Pio XII, in Novo Hamburgo.
“The tournament is a fun and constructive time, where teams have the chance to train before the national competition. The aim is to test the strategies and robots for the national event between February 28th and March 2nd, 2024, which takes place in Brasília, at Parque da Cidade”, adds Roger Pereira, professor of Innovation and Technology and responsible for the Maker Laboratory. and Educational Robotics.
Conceived and carried out by the FTC Underctrl #14391 team, and co-organized by the company STEMOS, this was Farroupilha’s second participation in the event. In the first, the team was awarded the award for best controller. The friendly match aims to provide a space for teams to practice their skills and learn to think like engineers. Teams design, build, and program their robots, and develop strategies and build robots based on sound engineering principles, such as rapid prototyping.
To compete in the event, students must be in 9th grade or high school, and the robots are built from a kit of reusable parts, powered by Android, and can be coded using a variety of levels of Java-based programming. In addition to building and designing robots, teams raise funds, design and market their team brand, and do community outreach to win specific prizes.
“The entire construction of the robot is developed by the students in two weekly meetings of two hours each, intensifying when we are close to a competition. The team members are former competitors of the First Lego League tournament and nominated by teachers”, points out Pereira.
The project also needs to be aligned with the theme of the competition season. This year, the chosen motto is “Lights, camera, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics)”. “FTC’s 2023/2024 season, Centerstage, will celebrate the role that STEAM skills play in the arts and design in building a world of infinite possibilities,” concludes the professor.
