he Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation (GRAF) is organising the Robotics Inspired Science Education (RISE) competition for students in Senior High Schools and Colleges aimed at motivating and inspiring the next generation of Ghanaians’ interest and participation in science and technology.
The decision to put together the competition stems from how Science and Robotics education has become indispensable in the world currently.
Dr. Yaw Okraku-Yirenkyi, founding member of the Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation and the country representative for World Robot Olympiad (WRO) and ROBOFEST World Championships indicated that “this competition offers a lot of opportunities for participants to employ critical thinking, coupled with scientific principles in an attempt to solve problems”.
The competition has two (2) challenges namely; The Autonomous Rescue Challenge (ARC) and the Multi-Grain Colour Sorter Challenge (MGCS). The Autonomous Rescue Challenge competition mirrors real life-threatening situation where “victims or valuable items” are situated in a mine tunnel. With the clock ticking, each team’s robot competes by demonstrating they have the best robot design and programming skills to rake in the points in the shortest possible time. The Multi Grain Colour Sorter Challenge targets Ghana’s Agricultural sector by inviting young minds to build a robot to sort a container full of a unique mix of Ghanaian grains such as maize, kidney beans, cocoa beans etc.
The Competition dates and venues are as follows:
- Northern Zone (Tamale): Friday, September 28 [PASTORAL CENTRE]
- South Eastern Zone (Accra): Saturday, September 29 [ACCRA ACADEMY -SENIOR SCHOOL]
- Middle Belt (Kumasi): Wednesday, October 3 [YTD]
- South Western (Cape-Coast): Saturday, October 6 [ST. AUGUSTINE’S COLLEGE]
GRAF is hopeful that competing teams will demonstrate a high sense of intellect and determination to see to fruition this competition and its objectives.
Interested parties who would like to sponsor their Primary, Junior and Senior High School pupils/students should contact GRAF on +233 20 222 0592 or email yboabengwilson@gmail.com for further information.