Three Grade 4 pupils from Lapu-Lapu City won first place in the elementary category of the 14th Philippine Robotics Olympiad (PRO) last Friday in Quezon City.
Elijah Iligan, Priam Ortega, and John Cartilla from the Dr. Caridad C. Labe Center for Excellence (CCL-CentrEx) were all first-timers in the competition. Iligan and Ortega are both nine while Cartilla is 10.
They will head to Doha, Qatar to join the Philippine delegation in the World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) on November 4-5.
The team will also join the World Adolescent Robot Competition (WARC) in Beijing, China on November 20-21, together with the first placers in the four categories.
CCL CentrEx’s second team, composed of Grade 5 students Jane Ruthie Avellano, Ivan Patanao, and John Nicholas Luceno made it to the top five as well.
“I believe that one of the reasons for the success of our teams is because we have integrated robotics in our school’s curriculum. This gives our students an edge—they have more time to learn and practice,” said Rachel Labe, president of CCL-CentrEx and one of the mentors of the students.
She said the Grade 4 team persevered and never gave up.
“We failed miserably in the first round, scoring zero in the preliminaries. However, in the second round, the team scored 100 points, assuring the win. We never gave up,” she told Cebu Daily News.
ROBOT
To win the olympiad, the participating students had to design a robot that investigates and explores different hostile environments.
For students in their category, they were challenged to build a robot that can dive and explore under the sea for pearls. The robot will have to be programmed and equipped with the appropriate sensors to collect the pearls.
They had 150 minutes to build and program their robot. After the two required test runs, the team scored 100 points in 27 seconds, besting 65 other participants in their category.
Labe said the students won because of their attitude toward schoolwork. They showed persistence in everyday work. Their tenacity to finish challenges ensured their success.
PIONEER
CCL CentrEx is among the first schools to include robotics in its elementary-level curriculum. Robotics is a subject usually taught to high school students.
Their students learn robotics as early as Grade 4, with the difficulty progressing until their final year in high school.
For Labe, learning robotics is vital as students will be developing skills like problem analysis, troubleshooting, project planning, and project management at an early age.
“The curriculum has greatly built their higher order thinking skills, confidence, team dynamics and competitiveness,” she said.
The students who joined the competition are also part of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) after-school club called “Active Minds.”
Members of this club are engaged in building motorized robots and other STEM activities like web design, C+ programming, and community research projects.
The school has trained teams that have excelled in many national and international robotics competitions. They joined the World Robotics Olympiad in 2012 and 2013.
They also participated in the First Lego League in 2014, where they landed 3rd place. They then represented the Philippines in the Asia-Pacific Lego League Open in Australia.
The annual Philippine Robotics Olympiad is organized by non-profit organization FELTA Multimedia Inc.
Mylene Abiva, project director of FELTA, told CDN that training students in the fields of STEM and robotics will help them in manufacturing, health, and even agriculture.
“Science, technology, robotics – this is our world’s future. Therefore, we should gear Filipinos for such a world, lest we be left behind,” Abiva said.