Local robotic team heading to Dubai

A local robotics team will once again represent South Africa internationally as they gear up for the FIRST Global robotics challenge later this year.

The robotics competition will be held in Dubai from 24 to 27 October.

The team, made up of high school students from Centurion, will consist of team captain Jared Jaleel Reddy (16), Masana Mashapha (17), Lesedi Kgobe (17), Noria Senyello (16) and Ahmeel Reddy (15).

“SpringBots South Africa has been on an ongoing campaign to create awareness of the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and robotics for all youth in South Africa,” said team manager Roxanne Reddy.

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“There has been a huge shift in the focus of robotics and coding in South Africa.

“As from January 2020, robotics and coding will be introduced into our school curriculum,” he said.

“We believe that the future lies in the hands of the youth and that while we cannot change the world, we can positively impact one child’s life at a time.”

The SpringBots took part in the inaugural African Robotics Challenge at the University of Pretoria’s Rembrandt Hall in Pretoria.

“Teams utilised a robotics kit from a 2018 robotics competition and were tasked to create a robot to simulate a mini Mars rover that would move elements into a moon lander and over craters,” Reddy said.

“Team Lesotho did not have a functional robot and Team SpringBots South Africa allowed them to use their very own award-winning ‘Madiba Bot’.”

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“The founder and mentor of Team SpringBots South Africa, Mikhaeel Reddy guided Team Lesotho on how to navigate the robot through the game and gave them a competitive advantage.”

“This allowed Lesotho to go through to the finals and face off with Team SpringBots South Africa.”

The Madiba Bot rose to the challenge allowing Lesotho to score an extra element winning them the ARC challenge.

Team South Africa walked away with a second-place as well as with the award for “Spirit of Ubuntu” for their true South African spirit.

Team Cape Verde came in third.

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