Young athletes excited about unexpected challenges at Robotacon Wro 2024
In the ROBOTACON WRO 2024 competition with the theme "Earth Allies", in addition to the official tasks, there are also unexpected challenges designed based on real-life examples from Vinamilk farms and factories..., helping students better understand sustainable development.
Robots on duty at “green” farms and factories
According to Vinamilk representative, accompanying this year's contest, Vinamilk hopes to bring children the journey to become Earth allies through unexpected challenges, as well as practical examples of applying sustainable development robots in production activities at Vinamilk Green Farm.
For example, in the exam topic “sustainable agriculture – green farm”, candidates design and program robots to help fertilize corn fields. This is also a practical activity at the Vinamilk Green Farm eco-farm, which is applying modern technology to care for more than 20,000 dairy cows. Here, the “green cycle” helps turn cow waste into organic fertilizer for corn fields, which in turn provides food for the dairy cows.
Candidates also control robots on a simulation model of the Vinamilk factory to move milk cartons to the correct location. The robot's path needs to be calculated accurately and quickly, which is also the actual task of LGV robots at the Vinamilk milk factory.
At the factory, Vinamilk is applying high technology (with robots, AI) in transporting goods, smart warehouses, using green energy - solar energy, etc. to reduce emissions and optimize energy use.
Learn about sustainable development from the closest things
The green city challenge was also eagerly "solved" by the contestants in a surprise exam by using robots to move green tree blocks and milk carton blocks to locations in the city.
Using green energy sources such as solar energy or simple actions such as collecting and recycling milk cartons into useful items to reduce waste is also "being an ally of the Earth". Through the competitions, Vinamilk brought the message that from small actions we will create big changes, helping the environment become cleaner, more beautiful and limiting the impact of climate change.
“The unexpected exam questions related to Green Farm, Vinamilk city, etc. not only created excitement for the students, because they saw more applications of robots in production and daily life; but also reminded and inspired them to think and develop technology that cares about the environment and the earth for sustainable development,” commented Ms. Dao Quynh Nhu (HCMC), a parent whose child participated in the ROBOTACON 2024 competition.
Equip children with “knowledge” and “awareness”
Mr. Pham Ngoc Tien - former Deputy Head of Secondary Education Department, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, Head of the Professional Advisory Board of the ROBOTACON 2024 competition said that with this challenge, the organizing committee wants the contestants and teams to not only gain more "knowledge" but also raise their awareness of environmental protection - the future owners of the country.
In addition, children will see the application of robots in daily life, in the fields, farms or cities where they live. From there, it contributes to inspiring and stimulating thinking about applying technology to environmental protection activities from activities closest to them.
According to Pham Cong Minh, a 5th grader at Vinschool Ocean Park Primary School (Hanoi), this year's contest has a surprise exam section, so it's different from previous years. "The surprise exam section requires real-life tasks at factories and farms, helping to protect the environment, so I find it quite interesting and has a useful lesson. I heard that dairy cows on the farm listen to music, get automatic massages... so I really want to visit Vinamilk's farm and learn about the software and robots used to take care of dairy cows," Cong Minh shared.
As the main sponsor, Vinamilk also awarded special prizes, “Raising The Bar Awards”, to the teams that excelled in overcoming unexpected challenges. In addition, the finalists also had the opportunity to experience the reality at Vinamilk’s largest farm and factory, Vinamilk Green Farm Tay Ninh and Vietnam Dairy Factory (Mega) in Binh Duong.
This year, with many innovations, the competition gathered more than 1,500 students, from nearly 500 teams from schools across the country. From August 23-24, the national final round took place in Ho Chi Minh City, to find the 16 best teams to represent Vietnam to participate in the International Robot Competition in Singapore and the World Robot Olympiad 2024 - taking place in Türkiye.
