Tersia King Learning Academy (TKLA) Lego Robotics team has been crowned the world champions at the International Robotics Competition in the Arab World.
TKLA Sci-BonoSpaceAnts left South Africa on June 12 to compete in Lebanon against 46 countries with over 500 learners participating.
Lego Robotics head coach Elizabeth Mathibedi said they were excited to achieve first position. They were presented with the FLL International Inspiration Award 2019.
“We are over the moon about our achievement. More than anything we had an opportunity to travel the world. We took our culture to the international community and in return we brought the world culture back home. I wish every child in South Africa can get involved in the Lego Robotics activities,”said Mathibedi.
Asked what their secret was in becoming world champions, Mathibedi said it all boiled down to hard work and dedication.
In the 15 years of involvement in the robotics, Mathibedi said they developed a working culture of hard work.
“The FLL competition has categories where learners build a moving robot using strictly Lego pieces. Secondly, this entails programming the robot to perform 16 missions for two-and-a-half minutes for 360 points. Thirdly, category teams do project research presentation for five minutes. Fourthly, they embraced in full the FLL core values.”
“During the regional competition, we won the Teamwork Award. In the nationals, we won the Judges Award.
“This time around we came out first and got awarded for being the champions in the FLL Core Values category,” Mathibedi said.
