On December 22, an engaging educational intensive for schoolchildren was held at the Additional Education Center based at the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) as part of Rossotrudnichestvo’s international project “Russian Engineering School.” The event opened doors for students to the world of modern technologies and provided an opportunity to become practically acquainted with the fundamentals of robotics.
Three Tracks — Three Paths to the Future
Three thematic tracks were prepared for participants to choose from, each offering a unique perspective on the world of robots:
- “RoboWorld” — immersion into the history and current state of robotics, introduction to outstanding developments and industry prospects;
- “Robotics is Simple and Interesting” — a basic course where students mastered the principles of robot construction and control;
- “Create Your Reality with Robots” — an advanced track in which participants learned to design robots for solving specific tasks.
Practice — The Key to Understanding
The main advantage of the program was its practical orientation. During sessions, schoolchildren:
- studied robot design and principles of their operation;
- mastered basic construction skills;
- learned to program simple robotic systems;
- worked in teams on their own projects.
Each track included a series of sequential sessions where theory was immediately reinforced with practice. Under the guidance of experienced mentors, students step by step created their own robots, trying different approaches and solutions.
Final Challenge: Battle of the Robots
The intensive’s climax was an exciting “Battle of the Robots.” Machines created by participants in previous sessions entered the arena. The robots competed in:
- overcoming obstacles;
- executing commands;
- interacting with the environment.
Although winners were determined in each challenge, all participants truly won. After all, the main achievement was the knowledge and skills gained, as well as confidence that robotics is accessible and interesting to everyone.
Results and Prospects
The educational intensive demonstrated that modern engineering disciplines can be exciting and understandable even for beginners. Participants:
- gained basic knowledge about robotics;
- mastered initial construction and programming skills;
- tried their hand at team engineering work;
- discovered career prospects in the technical field.
Organizers noted the high interest of schoolchildren in the project and plan to conduct similar intensives regularly, expanding the topics and involving more participants.