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Young Surrey inventors see whose robot can park the best in annual competition

Robokids founder says after-school program not only makes coding fun for youth, it also develops their social and academic potential.

Alex Wilks/ Now-Leader contributor

SURREY — Young inventors took over a Surrey mall recently for their annual robotics tournament.

RoboSports is a sports-themed robotics competition that allows students to work in pairs and compete with their own hand built robots. In two-and-a-half hours, they must combine basic programming skills – including going straight, turning 90 degrees, and following lines – using computers and mathematical calculations to program and command their robotic machines to play sports such as soccer or basketball.

The competition took place on May 21 at Semiahmoo Mall in South Surrey and is one of many hosted throughout the year by the hands-on robotics program, Robokids.

Robokids follows a science, technology, engineering and math curriculum. Students use coding and critical thinking skills to create and command their own robots. This after school program is tailored to children as young as four and offers more advanced material up to 16.

Jason Zhang founded the Robokids franchise nine years ago. He says his after-school program not only makes coding fun for youth, it also develops their social and academic potential.

“I was in the engineering business and also in the educational business,” Zhang says. “I’ve realized that there has to be a way to teach kids in a fun and dynamic way. Everything in our program is related to academic subjects. We have a very high rate of students either going into science or engineering that have graduated from our program.”

This year’s competition featured a parking challenge. The students used math to calculate and strategize how to command their robot to park different cars into the appropriate place on a large grid playing board. Each object the robot moves has an assigned amount of points.

Although the competition is based on a points system, sportsmanship is also a factor. The pair with the highest score advances to the provincials in Richmond this month.

More than 30 players will advance from local events, said Zhang.

There are seven Robokids locations across Greater Vancouver with two more franchises on the way. For more information on the program and future competitions, visit robokids.ca or click here.

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