ISLAMABAD: The Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering (CASE) University and Headstart School jointly hosted the National Robosprint 2014 to promote interest in Robotics among young people.

Over 45 students of Headstart School, Islamabad, Beaconhouse School System, Islamabad, City School, Karachi, Lahore Grammar School, Lahore and Pak-Turk School, Lahore, participated in the three-day competition.

In the special junior category, the first prize of Rs30,000 went to City School, Karachi, while the second and third prizes of Rs20,000 and Rs10,000 respectively were won by Headstart. The total prize money of Rs120,000 in the general category went to CASE University.

Robosprint is an initiative of the undergraduate robotics group at CASE University which held the first National Robosprint in 2009.

Naznin Murtaza, founder of Headstart School, said that her school had always endeavoured to make technology and engineering part of curriculum. She added: “Ours is the only school, which offers robotics as a subject from Grade 2 to IGCSE levels under the supervision of trained teachers. A combination of theory and practice has helped our students win national and international competitions.”

Naznin said not only was Headstart School one of the pioneers of robotics at the school level in the country but it was the country’s first school to win the bid to host the National Robosprint 2014 at their flagship campus in Kuri in collaboration with the CASE Robotics Group.

Saadia Habib, the Robotics Programme Manager at Headstart School, said: “Competitions like Robosprint should be a regular part of the students’ academic life as they inspire self-confidence and promote creativity.”

Saadia added: “Our students get a morale boost through their participation in this event and can set high aims for themselves such as participating in the world-class events like RoboCup.”

The RoboCup is an annual international robotics competition founded in 1997 with the aim of promoting robotics and artificial intelligence research, by offering a publicly appealing, but formidable challenge.

The full name of the competition is ‘Robot Soccer World Cup’ and the official goal of the project is ambitious and straightforward, that “by the middle of the 21st century, a team of fully autonomous humanoid robot soccer players shall win a soccer game, complying with the official rules of FIFA, against the winner of the most recent World Cup.”

Published in Dawn, October 29th , 2014