The American Zionist Movement congratulates the students from the SAR High School Robotics Team, who participated in the International Robotraffic Competition at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology last week!
The SAR team took 2nd place in the Racing competition, 4th place in the Presentation competition for their idea of a ‘smart’ intersection, and 7th place in the Careful driving competition. SAR was the only team representing the United States, and competed alongside students from Russia, Ukraine, Argentina and Israel, making up a total of 25 participating groups.
The competition, which focused on road safety and intelligence in transport, was held at the Israel Institute of Technology, known as the Technion. Starting with the same base hardware, each team had to build and program a robot vehicle capable of adapting itself to traffic situations while analyzing its environment. From its development, the competition sought from students that they not only put into play the knowledge of robotics and programming, but also an understanding of the problems associated with the development of intelligent devices that need to operate safely in complex situations, such as those generated by traffic in a city.
Drawing from the success of the robotics training in schools, an AMIT High School for girls in the Israeli Negev desert town of Yeroham, added robotics to its curriculum two years ago. In February, the team won the Inspire Award at the inaugural Tech Challenge National Robotics Competition and was chosen to represent Israel next month in the world championship to be held in St. Louis, Missouri. The TCN Competition requires student participation in community service volunteering. As part of their volunteer work, the students began teaching robotics in a nearby Bedouin village with the goal of helping children there establish a robotics team.
We wish the best of luck to the students of AMIT High School at the TCN Competition this month, and are very proud to be supporting the important work of AMIT in Israel. Ido Frommer, director of the Yeroham Science Center, said robotics have transformed the lives of children in this desert city, and that the AMIT students are a prime example of how robotics can transform a community as well as its neighbors.
