Team Seychelles who will be taking part in the 2022 FIRST Global Challenge in Switzerland left the country yesterday evening, to try their luck at the sixth edition of the Robotic Challenge, taking place from October 13 to 16.
The global event is being held physically this year under the theme ‘Carbon Capture’, after two years of being virtual, due to the Covid pandemic.
Team Seychelles comprises five students in the core team, namely, Ronan Varsani and Mikhail Rudchenko of the International School Seychelles (ISS), Farah-Rose Jean-Louis of Beau Vallon secondary school, Jaeden Ernesta of Anse Royale secondary school, as well as Myriam Henrie of Anse Boileau secondary.
Accompanying them is the supporting team, consisting of Elgar Faure, Denis Houareau, Ezra Albert and Nathan Morel from various secondary schools, as well as principal research officer within the Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) Joseph Raj, senior DSTI office assistant Angela Marie, and engineer Fabien Adrienne.
During a brief sending-off ceremony yesterday morning, director general for DSTI, Xavier Estico, highlighted the significant progress made by Seychelles Teams during past challenges, from 2017. Over the past six years, Seychelles has gradually moved up the ranks from 126th to 17th globally.
It was in 2019 that the Seychelles team leapfrogged into the first 50, Mr Estico remarked, encouraging the team to keep Seychelles flag flying high.
The FIRT Global Challenge is not only designed for competing, but the fundamental principle behind the Olympic-style competition is for teams to work together to complete tasks in a game centred around one of the greatest challenges faced by the planet, including the 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering. It aims to foster understanding and cooperation among the youth, as they use their abilities to solve the world’s pressing problems and global challenges.
Minister for Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry Devika Vidot for her part highlighted the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM), and government’s efforts to embed Information, Communications Technology (ICT) into the school curriculum, in the hopes of addressing the skills gap locally.
“Essentially, the government has identified ICT as one of the sectors of the economy with massive potential for economic growth. For that, it is important that we begin with the youth. Therefore, a lot of emphasis has, and is being placed on hosting STEM-related activities with the hopes of inspiring the youth,” the minister said.
“Technology, of course, underpins all the other economic developments, for instance, digitalisation will create efficiency, effectiveness in business. It represents profitability. ICT is the future of the economy and the future of the world,” Minister Vidot stated.
Minister Vidot also uttered words of encouragement to the whole team, urging them to give their best at the competition, and to make the most of the experience to learn as much as possible.
FIRST Global invites each participating nation to send a team to build and program a robot to compete. Teams are required to work together to complete tasks in the game. This year’s challenge will see over 180 countries coming together, where young innovators are being called upon to innovate solutions that nurture a healthier planet.
Carbon capture is the process of capturing existing carbon dioxide and preventing it from entering the atmosphere, through augmenting natural processes in lands, oceans and rocks, and creating industrial solutions using chemicals and technology.
In addition to the robotics competition, the challenge seeks to educate the youths and empower them to take part in the carbon conversation, through the tournament-style matches in which students will have to manoeuvre their robots to capture ‘carbon’, represented by black perforated balls, from the surface of the playing field, to be stored in the central sink, among other tasks.
Mikhail Rudchenko is partaking in the challenge for the fourth time this year, and says the experience is thoroughly enriching.
“We are very excited and a little bit nervous of course. We think that we have built a good robot this year, and we hope that we can do well. Building the robot took about two months, so it was very tough, with us having to work and meet every day,” he said.
“It is a great experience, and we get to meet so many people from different countries at the competition. We built a nice robot that drives around well, so we hope to come out on top,” he said.
Minister for Education, Justin Valentin, also attended the sending-off ceremony, held at the Seychelles Bureau of Standards (SBS).
The team have been sponsored by the Children’s Fund, H.Savy Insurance, as well as Laxmanbhai & Co. Sey Limited.
