Botball robotics competition kicks off with two-day workshop

Students from 25 schools in Qatar, Kuwait and the U.A.E. attended a two-day Botball workshop over the weekend at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Botball is a U.S.-based organization that introduces robotics to high school students. At the intensive two-day robotics workshop, the teams were given the necessary background and expertise to build and program their own Lego© Mindstorm robot.

Over the next few weeks, students will work with teachers and mentors to build and program their robots. The learning experience will culminate in April and May when the teams from each country compete against each other to see whose robot completes the course. The winning team also must demonstrate the work they've done in order to program their robot.

'Botball is a great way for high school students to learn about robots,' said Chuck Thorpe, dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar and former head of the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute. 'It’s also an excellent way for students to put their skills in math, engineering and teamwork to use.”

In addition to the schools from Qatar, Kuwait and the U.A.E., three teams from Egypt will be taking part in this year’s competition. These schools will attend a two-day workshop in Alexandria on March 14 and 15. The addition of the teams in Egypt makes the 2008 Botball competition the largest yet with 28 teams. Al Jazeera Children’s Channel has also expanded its coverage of the robotics competition to a six-part documentary this year.

“Al Jazeera Children’s Channel is committed to support the Arab Children and highlight their creativity. Including Egypt in this year’s competition brings more excitement to the competition, and introduces diversity of means the children will be using to achieve their goals and construct a robot,” says Mr. Mostapha Mellouk, Deputy General Manager of Al Jazeera Children’s Channel.

“A crew from Al Jazeera Children’s Channel will accompany the competition around the region, starting with the workshop in Doha, and will produce a number of reports to broadcast the competition news update. Good luck to all our young contestants!”

Country-level Botball competitions will take place on Saturday, April 19, in Doha; on Saturday, April 26, in the U.A.E.; on Saturday, May 3, in Kuwait; and on Saturday, May 10, in Egypt. Seventeen teams will compete in Doha, five in the U.A.E, three in Kuwait and three in Egypt. The winning team from each competition will then go on to compete in the Final Regional Botball Championship on Saturday, May 24, in Doha.

Botball special reports on Al Jazeera Children’s Channel will air internationally in April and May.