For Pinoy students, robotics is not just for nerds

Your mental image of a robot is probably a steel or aluminum device on wheels or treads, with lights and beeps going on here and there, with mechanical arms and lasers casting about—somewhat like Star Wars fan favorite, astromech droid R2-D2.   Robotic toys sold in stores, like Robosapien and Robopet, come in the shapes of humanoids or other animals, with plastic limbs, LEDs for eyes, antennas or infrared sensors, Bluetooth and radio controls, and various other cool functions.   But a robot doesn’t even have to be made of metal or plastic. Anthony Gabitan, president of Data Science and Technology (DST), says, “It can be wood, metal, whatever. A robot is composed of sensors, a motor and a brain. Everything else is anything you can find. And it can do whatever you want. It’s just input, process, output.”   At the National Robotics Competition (NRC), a robot gladiator can join three different challenges, the most popular of which is the Sumobot challenge.   Similar to the traditional Japanese wrestling sport, robots attempt to push each other outside of a downscaled sumo ring. In previous years, Sumobot Junior robots had to weigh no more than 500 grams, while the Sumobot Open allowed robots to exceed that weight.   This year, robots were limited to 1 kilogram, 500 grams or 400 grams. Josephine “Pinky” Legaspi, Genetic’s Vice President for Marketing, explains, “Yung ibang robots, they rely on gravity. May advantage talaga if you’re a heavy robot. So kapag one kilo ka, you fight with a one kilo also. Yung mga lightweight, sa lightweight din. Parang boxing.”   That’s kind of like Real Steel. Even more exciting is the Robo Rumble, where ten Sumo Robots go crazy in a big sumo ring. Last robot standing wins the game.   And no, you don’t have to be a boy or a science nerd to join these contests. According to Legaspi, about 30% of the participants are girls, and the youngest team members are in third grade. Competitors come from all over the Philippines: while many are from Metro Manila, teams travel all the way from Tarlac, Batangas, Isabela, Rizal, Dagupan and Ilocos Norte to join the NRC.   Each team pays a registration fee of Php 500, and can choose one category to join, so some schools send multiple teams to compete in all categories.   Other schools interested in watching rather than participating in the activities pay an entrance fee, which also allows them to attend the free seminars provided by Genetic, DST and INEX. These seminars provide an overview of what can be gained through a robotics program.    More than just robotics   It is not surprising that the students who excel in DST’s programs are from the well-off private schools, since they have the resources to obtain the proper support for a robotics curriculum.   Public schools are, regretfully, not as well-supported. But that’s not necessarily a dead end: DST is willing to help your school look for a sponsor to support your robotics curriculum.   Is robotics really worth the investment?   Gabitan definitely thinks so.  “It gives them the intuitive skills for them to know how things work. In fact, soon we would have some programs that teach you how a cell phone works, from a micro-chip and how it’s done, how it communicates, how to build a cell phone. So they learn all this new technology, they know it works. If you know how it works, you can make a lot of things, something that maybe we have not even thought of.”   Given the Department of Education’s mandate to implement the 12-year educational system this year, does DST see an active role for robotics? Gabitan replies confidently, “Just one course of robotics is already enough for the K-11 or K-12! It’s enough for one year.”   Genetic’s Legaspi says, “We teach robotics not for the purpose of selling robotics kits, but to encourage young people to be creative and inventive.”   Pack your bags   Have you ever dreamed of joining Robot Wars or some other international competition, so you can show off what you can do? DST is happy to give you that chance.   Every year, the winners of the NRC are awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to the International Robot Olympiad, wherever it may be held that year. That means that DST will provide the team and their coach with airfare, accommodations, an allowance and robotics kits. All the team has to do is represent the Philippines in the competition. Other teams who participate in the NRC may get partial subsidies from DST as well.   DST has provided at least a hundred students with that opportunity in the last four years. Their first delegation brought three teams to the International Robot Olympiad, while the second one supported the efforts of six teams.   In 2011, DST sent the biggest delegation so far, 15 teams, to Malaysia. Grace Christian Academy won a silver medal last year, the country’s highest attainment so far.   While learning the concepts and building the robots is the primary component of DST’s programs, Gabitan believes that competition is a very important part of the experience. “With competition comes ingenuity. Without competition, it’s just no fun.”   Benchmarking   Competition aside, how does the Filipino robotics student measure up against the rest of the world, like, say, Singapore? Conrad Sng Lye Huat of INEX Singapore says, in a word, “better.”   “In Singapore, a lot of students at that age are trained in LEGO. That’s what they have. In schools, that’s what is provided for them. But you can see, a lot of the creations are really based on the students’ creativity, and they actually use parts from different areas. They cut it themselves, they fabricate it themselves, using different microcontrollers, not just one product. That is why I define it as one-up.”   LEGO Mindstorms are popular among programmers and other robotics enthusiasts because they are easy to build and to program. Some have been able to recreate works of art such as the Mona Lisa, while others are made to look and act like popular robots such as Wall-E or an AT-AT. Some walk, others will interface with your mobile phone and your laptop and yet more might solve a Rubik’s cube or a Sudoku puzzle.   Whether it’s LEGO, INEX or some other robotics kit, DST believes that robotics brings out the Pinoy’s innate ingenuity.   Gabitan says, “Hard work is something we have to strive for, but the abilidad, it’s there. Pinoy are maabilidad. If they don’t have the tools, how will they be able to do what they want? But Pinoys have abilidad in many aspects, not necessarily technology. We want them to use that abilidad for technology.” — ELR, GMA News