School students to develop robots for Oman Science Festival

Muscat: Robots that wrestle or organise will be developed by four Omani students belonging to Grade 10 and 11, who will participate in the Oman Science Festival organised by the Ministry of Education.
Students from the Dhrar bin Al Azwar School in Ibri will take part in the festival to be held from October 26 to 28 at the Oman International Exhibition Centre. The students will be divided into two teams. The first one will participate in the ‘Collecting the Balls’ competition, where they will design and programme their robot to collect and organise balls scattered on the table.
The second team will participate in the ‘Sumo wrestling’ competition, which requires them to programme their robots to wrestle other robots and be able to muscle them out of the wrestling ring.
“The students started to design and work on their robots during the last academic year. Their task was to design, install and programme a number of robots using sensors and controllers and adjust them to do certain tasks,” said Ali Talib Al Jassasi, the students’ supervisor.
“Recently, the curriculum on robots has been added to the 7th and 8th grades; however these subjects only give a basic and a general idea on how the robots need to function, but it was the school initiative to find students with such interests and develop their skills to enable them to participate in such competitions.”
“The Oman Science Festival is a scientific event, which is concerned with introducing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to students in particular and to the public in general. The festival aims to create a positive attitude towards science, innovation and scientific research, as well as encourage young people to continue studying in scientific specialisations,” said Ibrahim Khamis Al Alawi from the Department of Innovation and Scientific Olympiad in the Al Dahirah Governorate.
Al Alawi added, “The Oman Science Festival is a perfect opportunity for students to become known and open doors to other national and international competitions and participation. This year, 80 schools will be participating in the festival, and it will be bigger and more comprehensive than the past ones; it will include games and scientific experiments, exhibitions, workshops, lectures and plays.”