On July 23, 2022, the Asian branch of the 2022 RoboRAVE International Educational Robot Conference came to an end in Hangzhou! The 3 teams from the International Department of Kunshan Middle School in Jiangsu Province competed on the same stage with nearly 200 teams from all over the country. They played well in the Super Tour (high school group) competition and won the first, second and third place in RoboRAVE Asia, achieving five consecutive championships!
RoboRAVE is an international robotics competition sponsored and supported by Intel Corporation. It has a 19-year history and attracts students from the United States, China, France, Spain, and Japan every year because of its high student participation, education and interest. , Colombia, Mexico, the Czech Republic, India and more than ten thousand students from more than ten countries participated in the conference, which is the most influential robotics conference in the world.
The RoboRAVE International Robot Competition is also a robot competition that is popular among key middle schools and international schools in various provinces and cities. In the RoboRAVE conference, contestants need to compete in teams, design, build and use computer programming to control fully autonomous robots to complete challenging tasks.
// Shi Zhengting: no effort, no gain
Through this robot competition, I gained a lot of new insights. During the offline training camp sessions, everyone in our team has a positive attitude and is working towards a common goal. In order to obtain better results, our team members changed the program and structure overnight, trying to change the four photoelectric sensors to six photoelectric sensors. Unfortunately, the night before the final game, we had no choice but to temporarily switch to four photoelectric sensors because the robot’s hardware could not carry the program. During this period, everyone did their part to the extreme. For me personally, the main task of a structural engineer is to continuously improve the robot, for which I have disassembled and assembled the robot nearly a hundred times. On the day of the finals, the reason why our team won the gold medal is more important because of the close cooperation and stable mentality of the team. Even though we didn’t have a high overall score in the first stage of the day, we didn’t give up and encouraged each other. In the second stage, we settled our mentality, and through close teamwork, we finished 330 table tennis balls ahead of the runner-up, and finally won the championship! Our day-and-night efforts are not in vain, and every effort will yield a reward. We will carry out the game until the final chapter!
// Zheng Bowen: A teammate, an opponent, and a friend who goes hand in hand
The Robot Contest was the most meaningful and impressive event I’ve had since entering high school. Team spirit and friendship were vividly displayed in this event.
Every member of our team, Aether, devoted their efforts to this event, especially Wu Junyi and Zhou Juncheng. They did not sleep for three consecutive days in order to modify the code to the best mode. I can’t find any other words to describe them except selfless and rigorous. Mr. Shi Zhengting, after busying himself with improving the structure of the robot, continued to repair the structure according to the performance of the robot. I don’t know how many times his hand has been slashed by a knife, and if I hadn’t found it, he would never have told us about his injuries. The good news is that the end result is worthy of our efforts. When he won the first medal, Zhou Juncheng said, “Let’s take a photo, this is the champion of the four of us!” This is my ideal perfect team. Even if there will be minor conflicts, neither of us will really Take it to heart, because we know that all of us are fighting for our common goals.
In addition to teamwork, the help of other students is also indispensable. When we were in the most difficult time and encountered unsolvable problems, it was Zhang Daxun who offered a helping hand. Even though he was not in the same group, he was willing to help us revise the program. There are also students Fan Fengxuan and Ren Jinyi. The parts and tools that our group lacked were borrowed from their group. When we won the competition with other groups, Sun Qi was more excited than our own team members. That kind of heartfelt joy and congratulations made the tense game a little warmer. It can be said that without their help, we would not have won this championship. Helping each other, competing with each other, this is the real friend, this is my ideal healthy competition.
// Zhou Juncheng: Determine the direction of struggle in exploration
In this robot competition, I have gained a lot of growth, especially learned a lot of knowledge related to my future major!
My job title in the competition was programmer and designer. The day before the game, my teammate Wu Junyi and I kept revising our program so that no one slept all night. In order to keep improving, I proposed new algorithms and judgment methods. Wu Junyi also helped me realize new judgments, and I also gradually improved and practiced my algorithms. Although I have to admit that in fact, our algorithm was still immature until we entered the arena, but I still worked hard to improve the algorithm and adjust the values. My teammates also performed their respective duties to adjust the car and the car’s power to the best state. During the competition, when there were loopholes in the program, my teammate Wu Junyi also helped me debug. This is a champion for us all! This is an honor that truly belongs to the team! I have also learned and revised again and again, and have seen my potential and strengthened my future learning direction!
// Wu Junyi: Face the challenge and move forward with determination
The 2022 RoboRAVE is an unprecedented challenge for me! During this week, under the careful guidance of the teachers, I have a more systematic understanding of robot production and control. In the tacit cooperation and sincere cooperation with my teammates, I deeply understand the importance of teamwork. At the same time, under the high pressure of the competition, it is necessary to debug the robot according to different situations, which also puts a great test on our psychological quality.
I think the fact that we ended up winning the RoboRAVE High School Track Tournament is a testament to the hard work we all put in during this time. My teammates and I often stayed up all night trying to debug the robot to an optimal state; I would also like to thank the teachers for teaching and helping us, working with us to find out the problems in the code and structure. Lastly, I would also like to thank our worthy opponents and friends, who encouraged each other and who were always there when we needed help.
In the future, I will definitely take the courage and perseverance during the competition to face challenges more actively.
Robot education is considered by modern educators as an effective tool to cultivate students’ creativity and imagination. Kunshan Middle School International Department focuses on cultivating students’ interdisciplinary integrated learning ability and shaping students’ core competitiveness in STEM curriculum innovation and project practice. The International Department has selected students to participate in the RoboRAVE robot competition since 2017. Up to now, the students of the International Department have won the championship in the finals of the China Division for 5 consecutive years. In 2017 and 2018, he represented the Chinese team in the world finals and won the first prize in the world, making a big splash on the world stage.