Education Ministry congratulates national team on efforts at first global robotics contest

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By Theresa Goodwin

[email protected]

Education Minister Daryl Matthew has congratulated the efforts of the four-member team Dadlibots who represented the country at a robotics competition in Switzerland earlier this month.

The students Teyanna Nathaniel (team leader), Ethan Bailey (engineer), Deshini Charles (programmer) and Leyla Reid (designer) competently and skillfully took part in the 2022 First Global Challenge held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The theme of the challenge was, ‘carbon capture’.

Matthew said in a release the four were chosen based on their performance in the inaugural STEM Infused Summer Camp that was put on by the ministry earlier this year.

He said over 200 students were afforded the opportunity for capacity building in the following areas – computer assembly, coding, photography, videography, graphic design, mobile app and web development, e-sports, robotics, 3D printing, and virtual and augmented reality.

He said having seen the enthusiasm of the students in the area of robotics, the ministry invested a sum of EC$27,000 to help the team travel to Geneva to participate.

In a recent interview with Observer, the team’s mentor Elijah James said that while the team did not make it to the finals they did extremely well.

“Although faced with a number of mechanical issues, [they] remained resilient and battled their way through their matches to achieve their highest ranking of number 24,” he said.

“However they just weren’t able to hold on to that important position – especially as only the top 24 teams would move on to compete in the final playoffs.

“This was due in part to technical difficulties faced by the alliances in the final set of ranked matches that limited the total amount of necessary points that could even be earned,” James said.

He said ultimately this meant that Dadlibots would fall from their spot. Their final rankings along with other participating countries’ teams will be announced by First Global on their website in the coming weeks.

James added that the team was ecstatic about the experience and the fact that they were able to wave the twin island nation’s flag high in an international arena – while not only meeting their fellow Caribbean counterparts but those from countries they had never previously heard of. Meanwhile, Minister Matthew said the ministry is committed to building the needed skills for the future, so that current students, the next iteration of the workforce, can be fully equipped to negotiate emerging jobs.

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