Taguig students win big at international robotics competition
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Students from Taguig City public schools bagged major awards at the recently concluded 2017 FIRA RoboWorld Cup in Kaohshing, Taiwan.
Samuel Tabernero from Kapt. Eddie T. Reyes Integrated School and Madelle Diez, Philip Leonard Diez, John David Golenia, Pierre Alan Romir Pioquid, and Aron Sean Michael Pioquid from Sen. Renato Compañero Cayetano Memorial Science and Technology High School went home with gold and silver awards from the Cliffhanger and Mission Impossible categories, respectively, from the competition held from August 23 to 27.
During the "sumobot-like" Cliffhanger competition, the students built a robot that knocked out an opponent out of the Dohyo or Cliffhanger ring.
In the Mission Impossible category, the team created an 8.5" x 11" robot using limited materials like styrofoam, popsicle sticks, BBQ sticks, glue sticks, micro-controllers, DC motors, paper cups, distance and ultrasonic sensors.
The task was to make the robot float while following a line path placed underwater.
Pioqiud said they underwent "very lengthy" preparation for the competition.
“We didn’t expect to win especially when we learned what countries we were competing against," he said in a news release.
"When we arrived [at the competition], we were intimidated and shocked with the other competitors’ robots, because ours only looked like a metal that had a motor and batteries,” he added.
The students recalled that opposing teams had robots created from boards that the Philippine team could not afford to do.
Still, Philip Diez said they gave their best in the competition, thinking that they were not only representing Taguig City, but also the entire country.
“Not letting other people who are supporting us down became another motivation, because they are the important factor behind our success—the reason why there is a Taguig Robotics Team,” he said.
Taguig Robotics Team head coach Sheryl Tabernero said the passion and interest of the students enabled them to perform better than they expected in the competition.
She also thanked the city government of Taguig City for its support and for shouldering the expenses of the students.
“Rest assured that the local government will never get tired of assisting our Taguigeño students so in return, I’m asking you kids to continue to dream big and think big for our beloved city of Taguig,” Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano said. — Erwin Colcol/BM/KVD, GMA News