Robotics: A Main Stay in the Lives of the Youth Today

It was just my simple dream to see our Special Science Curriculum (SSC) students in Jacinto P. Elpa National High School (JPENHS) participate in the National Robotics Competition.  I became excited when I saw that dream coming  as I received an email cordially inviting us to take part in the 2016 National Robotics Competition at Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Calamba, Laguna on January 13-18, 2016.

This National Robotics Competition is an annual event participated in by most premier high schools, colleges and universities in the Philippines to showcase and compete in their robot innovations and humanoids. This event is conducted by Data Science Technology Corp. and it has consistently sponsored the National Robotics Competition in the past 10 years. Joining this big event was our first try in Robotics and also a first ever participation of a high school from Mindanao.

Wens Zaren P. Duron and Rean Ian M. Marapao who are both Grade 9 SSC students represented JPENHS in the Line Tracing Category. Around 400 participants from different schools from Luzon and Visayas competed in this category. Other robot categories competed were Sumobot, Humanoid Challenge, Mission Challenge and Robot Soccer-Humaniod.

Though Wenz and Ian experienced a robotic event as champion from Engineering Science Challenge (PET Bottle Robot) at the 2015 PSYSC National Science Clubs Summit in Cantilan National High School, this National Robotics Competition was an entirely different level because you need design an autonomous robot.

The objective of this Line Tracing Category was for autonomous robot to complete the course in the shortest period of time while accurately tracking the line from START to FINISH. A game was played by one robot per team having 2 members. Only one team member could approach the playing field. Playing field consisted of different obstacles with corresponding points. The aim was to surpass the obstacle while moving on the line. The team who approached the finish line in the shortest period of time would win the game.

We only got a 30^th place in the overall result among the 400 contenders. Not really that bad for first timer! Now, we have a lot of time to prepare for the next competition. Nothing really is impossible for us who have strong will. As a coach of this event, I learned a lot from the experience and I am very grateful to the many teachers and parents who strongly supported me and my contestants. The efforts of training Wenz and Ian to invent their own robot caused them to believe in themselves.  It raised their self- confidence, creativity and motivation to achieve the goal. 

I believe that DepEd Tandag City Division has a lot to help in institutionalizing Robotics as a new scientific field to our pupils and students to engage in. This will create an avenue for them to showcase their inventions that make use of robotics technology for relevant issues our society face today.  Imagine a day each year where young people gather in a large parking lot to showcase and explain their inventions and how its production will make an impact in society. 
I am positive that through our participation in the National Robotics Competition, other Science teachers and robotic enthusiasts will rise up to join us in this effort. As of today, we have created a special team of robotics and linkages to help us develop and prototype climate change respond robots and provide us training materials to make robotics simple enough for everyone.  We encourage our science teachers, parents, pupils and students to join us in our efforts of making robotics a main stay in the lives of the youth today.