Ayb’s robotics team returns from USA with silver medal and Honda Innovation Award

YEREVAN, APRIL 18, ARMENPRESS. From Marion city, State of Ohio, USA, where from April 7-9 the renowned National Robotics Challenge took place, Ayb School’s robotics team returned home with a silver medal as well as the Honda Innovation Award. More than 1,300 participants and over 400 robots were presented at National Robotics Challenge (NRC) 2016, which this year celebrated its 30th anniversary.Ayb students presented their sumo robot during the competition, and the majority of participants were competing in exactly the “Sumo Robot” category. The robot was constantly in battle throughout the two days of competition in front of thousands of spectators, and competed against those presented by other high schools and colleges. And Ayb’s robot surpassed even those teams which had several years of experience in competing, in the hope of winning a medal.

In an interview with “Armenpress” member of Ayb’s robotics team Areg Kalantaryan mentioned that the robot was prepared as a result of months of hard work. “Our robot had a task to move the rival’s sumo robot out of the competition venue and our advantage was that our robot has a symmetrical construction from all sides thank to which we were able to easily defeat several robots. Our sole defeat was a minor malfunction, which could be fixed, the robot just had a very complex structure”, Areg Kalantaryan said.

In his words, they received Honda Innovation Award due to the advantages of their robot in terms of its ability to protect itself.

According to Ayb’s robotics team director Vazgen Gabrielyan, competition participants and guests were amazed at the Armenian team’s sumo robot and all the work which went into its creation. “Everyone approached us one by one and asked to touch the robot and take pictures with it. Our robot and our team were the center of everyone’s attention. Many teachers said that they did not know of any school in the USA where robots are made from scratch,” Vazgen recalls.

Ayb’s robotics team has been up and running since 2011. Ayb School’s robotics laboratory and the adjacent MIT-created fab lab sponsored by VivaCell-MTS Company were instrumental in Ayb’s active participation in numerous international competitions and tournaments.

The National Robotics Challenge competition first took place in 1986 and is considered to be the longest continually operating world robotics competition. It is made up of 12 categories: Sumo Robot, Mini-Sumo Robot, Rescuing Robot, Hockey Robot, Maze Robot, and more. The competition is open to individuals or teams of elementary, middle, high schools and colleges. Honda Company is the main sponsor of the competition.