April 14th was the annual RoboSumo Challenge competition at Saint Maur International School. This event is available to middle and elementary students across the Kanto area and offers an opportunity for students to collaborate and share their passion for robotics.

The autonomous programming section requires that robots remain inside the sumo ring by detecting the white line around the outside using a light/colour sensor. A range of other sensors, such as ultrasonic, infrared, gyro and touch can be used in order to develop strategies to attack or defend against your opponent. In addition motors are used to control movement of not only the wheels or tank tracks, but also of actuator attachments to attack and defend also. The engineering requires a robust chassis, offering mechanical efficiency and durability. Students compete against others in their age range through a round robin, with the top four in each group moving forward to the knockout rounds.

This year the high school robotics students developed and judged the design awards, in which they individually interviewed all students and scored them against a challenging engineering and programming rubric of expectations. We were incredibly impressed with the diversity of their designs and the number of unique ideas.

We were pleased to welcome students and coaches from K International School, Yokosuka Middle School and Yokota Middle School to the event. It is the aim of all our schools to develop robotics opportunities for our students.

Saint Maur students received awards in a number of categories; including 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the elementary, as well as the elementary design award. Saint Maur Middle School students took 3rd place, with first, second and the design award going to Yokota teams.

Next year will be the 10th Anniversary of the RoboSumo Competition at Saint Maur. If you are interested in taking part, please join our robotics club for the 2018 - 2019 season, which take place on Monday and Tuesdays.