Robots of different types and sizes land in Rio de Janeiro for the country’s largest robotics competition: the Sesi Robotics Festival. The event is free for visitors and takes place from February 15th to 17th at Pier Mauá. The attention is all for those behind the building and programming of robots: more than 1,200 students from public and private schools who put to practice what they learn in Science, Mathematics, Physics, and other technology-related subjects. Separated in categories, students face three challenges: The First Lego League, the First Tech Challenge and F1 in Schools.
In the First Lego League, the competition will have the participation of 84 teams from all over Brazil. Their spots were won during the local stages. The topic of the season, Into Orbit, challenges students to research on issues related to living and traveling in space. They must identify and propose an innovative solution to a physical or social problem faced during space exploration trips.
In the arena, robots built by the students themselves with Lego pieces must accomplish missions such as moving around in cratered areas, helping an astronaut safely back to the space station and even moving satellites into orbit. All in a playful way at the competition table.
The best teams of the national stage secure their place in international tournaments. The biggest one, the World Festival, deemed the Robotics World Cup, will be held in Houston, USA. Last year, the Americana’s Sesi Red Rabitt team, from São Paulo, Brazil, was the great winner of the world festival.
One of the new features for 2019 is the debut of the First Tech Challenge, in which 16 teams, consisting of students aged 15 to 18 from high school, can explore their creativity. Coming from 15 states in this first edition, students will design, prototype and produce parts according to the robot’s needs. The machine will have to accomplish missions autonomously and via radio control in an arena which is also space-themed.
The third competition of the festival is the F1 in Schools, an educational program officially linked to Formula 1, reproducing the challenges of the race. In this preparation for the professional world, students aged 14 to 18 are challenged to create a company that must operate as an F1 team. They can use various technological resources to design, model and test a prototype of an F1 car.
The F1 in Schools program is organized in more than 40 countries and the grand finale, with the presence of teams from all over the world, takes place within an official F1 circuit, where participants will meet the F1 teams, cars, and drivers. F1 in Schools started 17 years ago in England. In Brazil, this will be the fourth edition.
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