Fourteen teams from various secondary schools across Ilocos Norte are gaining experience in putting science, engineering and programming into practice in Robotics Camp 2012 sponsored by the Provincial Government of Ilocos Norte (PGIN), December 5 to 7.
Kicking off yesterday, the camp has two parts: the lecture and workshop from Dec. 5-6 at La Tabacalera Lifestyle Center, Laoag City and the culmination which will be through a series of competition on Dec. 7 at Ilocos Norte Capitol – Auditorium.
Organized by the Provincial Education (PED) and Provincial Information Technology (IT) Departments, the event targets to immerse high school students to the rigors of sci-tech experimentation and to train teachers on how to introduce robotics instruction in their schools.
It invited Engr. Deodilyn Villanueva, a lecturer from Genetic Computer Institute – Northern Luzon who has handled several Robotics workshops prior to the said event.
Her module introduces participants to two kinds of rudimentary robots: sumo-bot and line-tracing bot.
“In a sumo-bot match, two robots will try to be the first one to push the other outside the ring. As for the line-tracing bot, the robots are programmed to travel through tracks where they race for the finish line,” Villanueva explained.
Villanueva also said that apart from merely learning Robotics, the camp is the best chance for the participants to study the important mechanics of design, electronics, and computer programming.
“The activities will help them develop their critical thinking skills,” she added.< Now on its second year, the Robotics Camp is another stride of Gov. Imee R. Marcos on her commitment to education. Her goals are to incorporate Robotics to the secondary education curriculum of the province and to influence the academe to incorporate the hands-on principle of the said subject to better teach various science subjects such as Physics and Logic. The winning team will be the province’s representative to the Philippine National Robotics Competition on January 2013. Grazielle Mae A. Sales, PGIN-CMO
