July 2017

FIRST GLOBAL CHALLENGE

FIRST Global Challenge is the world’s largest robotics competition for pupils aged between 15 and 17. The competition aims at promoting science and technology among the young people around the world, as well as drawing public attention to the global problems of humankind.

This year, FIRST Global hosted teams from more than 160 countries around the world. It was the first time when Belarus took part in a robotics competition of such a high level. A team of 7 pupils (Sasha Kulsha, Vova Sanko, Maxim Klimovich, Vanya Izgachev, Maxim Shpilevsky, Dasha Valakhanovich, and Valya Belotelova) together with their teachers from the Educational Center of the HTP Alexander Frantskevich and Igor Shevchenko represented our country there.

The teams faced the challenge of developing a solution aimed at water purification. Each team was supposed to cooperate with two other teams in an alliance competing with one other alliance at a time. Points were awarded for the effectiveness of a solution proposed as well as the level of teamwork in an alliance.

The Belarusian team played 4 rounds with teams from Turkmenistan, Uganda, Israel, Solomon Islands, Albania, Afghanistan, Burundi, and Saint Kitts and Nevis on the first day of the competition. This day brought our team 298 points and the 9th place among 163 teams.

The team cooperated with teams from Lesotho, Sri Lanka, Panama, and Bermuda during the fifth and sixth rounds that took place the next day.

The overall result of the two competition days was 94th place. However, the main achievement is not the place but participation in a competition of such a level, a chance to communicate with teams from all over the world, and the valuable experience of cooperation without borders, which the participants from our country indeed appreciated.

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