Botball kicks off with workshops in Doha and Cairo

DOHA, QATAR – Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar kicked off the 6th annual Regional Botball high school robotics tournament February 26 with a two-day workshop in Doha. Twenty-five teams of middle and high school students took part. A similar workshop took place March 5 and 6 in Cairo where teams from Egypt, Kuwait and Zimbabwe were introduced to the world of robotics with a simplified approach for programming and building.

“It is great to see how much reputation the Botball robotics program has gained over the years. This year we have new participants from Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Zimbabwe bringing the number of teams competing to 30 from seven different countries,” said Mohamed Mustafa, academic assistant at Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Botball organizer in the Middle East. “The interaction and collaboration between the students helps them develop teamwork, project planning and communication skills.”

At the two-day Botball workshop, Carnegie Mellon Qatar professors and students taught the secondary school teams about current robotic technologies and then worked with the students to apply these skills to design, build and program their own robots. The teams have approximately two months to build at least one autonomous robot (able to move on its own without remote control) that is able to execute specific tasks required by the competition’s theme, which this year focuses on environmental safety and pollution.

“Carnegie Mellon Qatar plays a big role in advancing education within the society in Qatar,” said Essam Al Khatib, engineer and teacher from Nasser Bin Abdullah Al-Attiya School. “Both teams from our school enjoyed the workshop. It was a high-quality event that helped us to learn more about robotics, and interact with other students from local and international schools.”

The teams and their robots will meet Friday, April 23, at Carnegie Mellon Qatar in Education City to face off against each other in a series of non-destructive competitions. Points will be awarded to the robots that are able to execute the tasks with the best time results. This event is open to the public. The grand prize for the winning team is a trip to the United States in July 2010 to compete in the international Botball tournament and attend the Global Conference on Educational Robotics in the United States.

Countries participating in this year’s regional Botball tournament include Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.

Participating schools at the Qatar workshop included:

– From Bahrain: Ibn Khuldoon National School

– From Qatar: Al Bayan Secondary School, Doha College, Doha Independent Secondary School for Boys, Doha Montessori and British School, Al Khor International School, Lebanese School, Nasser Bin Abdullah Al-Attiya, Al-Wakra Independent Secondary School for Boys, American School of Doha, Omar Bin Al Khattab Scientific Secondary School, Hamza Bin Abed Mutalib Preparatory Independent School for Boys,

Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al Thani Independent Secondary School for Boys, Qatar Academy, Al Resala Secondary Independent School for Girls, Al Ieman Secondary Independent School and Amna Bint Wahab Independent Secondary School.

– From Saudi Arabia: Al-Riyadh School for Boys, Al-Riyadh School for Girls

– From the United Arab Emirates: Al Mawakeb School (Al Barsha), Al Mawakeb School (Al Garhoud), International School of Arts and Sciences and American Community School of Abu Dhabi.

Participating schools in the Cairo workshop included:

– From Egypt: Canadian International School of Egypt, International School of Choueifat – Cairo

– From Zimbabwe: Harare International School

– From Kuwait: Al Ru’ya Bilingual School and The British School of Kuwait.

ABOUT BOTBALL®

Botball® was created in 1997 by the KISS Institute for Practical Robots (KIPR). The Botball® Educational Robotics Program engages middle and high school aged students in a team-oriented robotics competition based on National Science Education Standards. For more information, visit botball.org.

ABOUT CARNEGIE MELLON

With more than a century of academic excellence and distinguished research, Carnegie Mellon University is a leader in education with real-world applications. Consistently top ranked, the University has more than 11,000 students, 72,000 alumni and 4,000 faculty and staff globally. Core values of innovation, creativity, collaboration and problem solving provide the foundation for everything we do.

At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon joined Education City in 2004. Here, Qatar Foundation created a unique center for scholarship and research that is the ideal complement to Carnegie Mellon’s mission and vision. Students from Qatar and 30 different countries enroll at our world-class facilities in Education City. Carnegie Mellon Qatar offers undergraduate programs in business administration, computer science and information systems, as well as executive and corporate education. Learn more at qatar.cmu.edu.