The Romanian edition of the international robotics competition First Tech Challenge has grown faster than any other in the 24 countries where it is organized, Ken Johnson, the CEO of First Tech Challenge, told Ziarul Financiar.

First Tech Challenge is a robotics competition started in 2007 with a pilot program in Manchester, in the US state of New Hampshire. It was the initiative of engineer Dean Kamen, known for inventing the two-wheeled, self-balancing scooter Segway.

Globally, the competition has four sections: for kindergarten, middle school, high school and university. In Romania it is titled BRD First Tech Challenge, and it currently runs only the high school section. The association Naţie prin Educaţie (Nation through Education) brought the competition to Romania.

In just two years since it started to be organized locally, it reached 8% of local high schools. By comparison, in the United States, where it has been organized for ten years, the presence is of 11%.

Over 1,200 students from 90 high schools in Romania took part in the weekend of March 24 – 25 in the second edition of the BRD First Tech Challenge. They competed for one of the four winning spots that brings them to the world finals in the United States. The students prepared for the competition for six months, under the coordination of their high school teachers and that of the students from the Polytechnics University in Bucharest. Meanwhile, Naţie prin Educaţie offered free, programming language seminars.

The four Romanian teams that will go to the US are: Team RO001 Xeo from the Horea, Closca si Crisan National College in Alba Iulia, Quantum Robotics - RO 077 from the International Theoretic High School of Informatics in Bucharest, QUBE.. from the Mihai Viteazul National College in Bucharest, and Technogods Robotics Team from the Ecaterina Teodoroiu National College in Târgu-Jiu.

For the two editions that took place locally, the organizing costs amounted to EUR 1 million, Dana Războiu, the president of Naţie prin Educaţie, told Ziarul Financiar. The money covered various tool kits, 3D printers, or game fields. Students who take part in the competition do not pay a registration tax to attend.

The companies financing the event also attend it, and the participants at the US finals get the chance to shine in front of representatives of organizations such as SpaceX, Boeing or NASA. A large part of the students enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the prestigious tech-oriented higher education institution in the US, have attended the First Tech Challenge competition, Războiu explained.

In the competition, the First Tech Challenge teams are challenged to design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge in an alliance format. Guided by adult coaches and mentors, students develop STEM skills and practice engineering principles (like keeping an engineering notebook), while getting to learn the value of hard work, innovation, and sharing ideas.

(Photo: BRD First Tech Challenge Romania Facebook Page)

editor@romania-insider.com