Participants from primary schools pose for a photo.
KUCHING: A total of 94 teams from primary and secondary schools in the state participated in the second state level Robotics and Coding Competition 2019 held at Swinburne’s Sarawak campus here recently.
The two-day annual event jointly organised by Swinburne’s Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science and Cytron Technologies Sdn Bhd was held to enhance interest in STEM education by introducing robotics and coding to students in line with Swinburne’s STEM outreach effort.
The first day saw 13 primary schools taking part namely, SK Petra Jaya, SK Long Aton, SJK (C) Sungai Menyan, SK Pajar Sejingkat, SJK Chung Hua No. 1, SJK Chung Hua No 6, and SJK Chung Hua No 5 Kuching.
Also participating were SJK Chung Hua Sungai Tapang MJC, SJK Chung Hua Sungai Moyan, SJK Chung Hua Batu 4.5, SJK (C) Ek Hua, SJK (C) Chong Boon Mukah, and SJK (C) Kwang Chien.
On the second day, 21 teams from various secondary schools competed including SMK DPHA Gapor, SMK Bako, Sekolah Menengah Sains Kuching Utara, SMS Kuching, SMK Lanang, SMK Mukah, SMK Bandar Bintangor, SMK Bandar Kuching No. 1, SMK Tun Abdul Razak, SMK Bandar Sarikei and SMK Tarat.
Other participating schools were SMK Pending, SMK Siburan, SMK Datuk Patinggi Kedit, SMK Tinggi Kuching, SMK St Teresa Kuching, SMK Tung Hua, SMK St Patrick Mukah, SMK Tinggi Sarikei, SMK St Anthony, and SMK Agama Tun Ahmad Zaidi.
Earlier this year, teachers from the schools attended a training workshop conducted by rero (reconfigurable robot) EDUteam, the education arm of Cytron Technologies. At the end of the training, teachers were provided with resources and modules to guide their students in building and programming their own rero.
On the day of the competition, students had to sit for a theory test, complete coding tasks to build and programme their robots on-the-spot under five categories – Live Coding Challenge with rero Jr (primary and secondary categories), Live Coding Challenge with rero:micro (primary and secondary categories) and Build Your Own Robot Challenge (secondary category).
Judging was based on standard assessment method with 30 per cent allocated for theory test and 70 per cent for team coding challenge.
A total of 52 teams won the gold award (scoring 80 per cent and above), five won the silver award (scoring 70 per cent and above), and 13 the bronze award (scoring 60 per cent and above).
The gold and silver award winners will represent Sarawak at Rero Annual Championship 2019 (RAC19) National Level Robotics and Coding Competition to be held at Nilai University, Negeri Sembilan.
According to organising chairperson and Associate Dean (Academic Practice) of Swinburne’s Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science Ir Dr Adeline Ng, this second edition received overwhelming response attracting students from Primary 4 to Form 6.
“We hope that through this event, we will be able to reach out to more students both in the urban areas and all the way to the interiors to further cultivate their interest in STEM education,” she added.
Meanwhile, head of rero EDUteam of Cytron Technologies Cheryl Ng said they were grateful to Swinburne for hosting the event.
“Last year, we only had over 20 teams but this year, the number grew by fourfold to 94 teams with some travelling from as far as Long Aton, Sarikei and Mukah. We are elated to see the students having the opportunity to learn robotics and coding. The Sarawak teams did very well,” she remarked.
Swinburne is an Australian university based in Melbourne with an international campus in Kuching.
The Kuching campus offers a range of industry-applicable courses such as business, computing, design, engineering and science at pre-university (foundation), diploma, degree, masters and PhD levels. The curriculum and assessment is equivalent and aligned to identical learning outcomes at its Melbourne campus.
For more information about Swinburne, visit www.swinburnesarawak), Facebook page (@swinburnesarawak), Instagram (@swinburnesarawak), Twitter page (@Swinburne_Swk) or YouTube channel (Swinburne Sarawak).