Madrid vibrates with the semi-final of the ASTI Robotics Challenge at UDIT
The Campus of Technology, Innovation and Applied Sciences of UDIT, University of Design, Innovation and Technology, was the venue for the regional semi-final of the ASTI Robotics Challenge, the most important educational robotics tournament in Spain.
More than a hundred students from Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Comunidad Valenciana and Extremadura have competed in this phase with a clear objective: to get a place in the national grand final to be held on May 10th in Burgos. UDIT, which did not want to miss the opportunity to compete against the best, was represented by seven teams formed by 26 students from its Full-Stack, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, and Video Game Design and Virtual Environments degrees.
The aim of ASTI Robotics Challenge is to encourage the vocation of young people towards STEM subjects, proposing them an approach to technology in a much more playful way and through a discipline, robotics, which involves very diverse knowledge: mechanics, electronics, programming, energy or design.
In this way, it challenges students in the integral management of a real project, allowing them to develop non-cognitive skills such as resilience, creativity, teamwork and communication. In addition, in this edition, for the first time, the students had to reflect on and develop a theoretical work on the role of technology in solving real challenges in society. The chosen theme was "Energy Challenge: robotics for the safe transport of green hydrogen".
Skill, strategy and action
Javier Pascual, Director of the International Campus of Technology, Innovation and Applied Sciences, was in charge of officially welcoming the teams, encouraging them to make the most of the experience: "every challenge, every adjustment to your robots, every decision counts. Feel the thrill of the challenge, enjoy the competition and remember that the real victory lies in what you have learned to get this far".
After this introduction, the teams had a 30-minute training period on the tarpaulins to test their strategies in the two events of the competition: Sumo and Follow the Lines.
In the Sumo event, two robots face each other in a bounded circle with the aim of pushing the opponent out of the combat area. Teams devise strategies based on strength, agility and opponent detection, programming their robots to attack, dodge or resist the opponent's onslaught. Victory is awarded to the robot that manages to oust its opponent in the most rounds.
In Follow the Lines, on the other hand, robots must follow a circuit by following a line on the ground using light or infrared sensors. The key is speed and precision, as they must react quickly to sharp turns and changes in direction without going off course. The team whose robot completes the course in the shortest time is the winner.
Once the training period was over, it was time for the real competition, with each team displaying their ingenuity in order to secure their place in the grand final. Only the best teams from the four regional semi-finals (Valladolid, Zaragoza, Madrid and Malaga) will qualify and the names of the finalists will be announced in the near future.
