World-beating robotics team wants more J’cans to embrace tech

Team Robotics Jamaica, who returned to the island on Thursday after their gold medal-winning performance at the Robotics Olympics in Singapore, hopes their international exploits will grow technology locally and lead to a greater focus by the country on the future.

Jamaica took home the top prize of the Katherine Johnson Award in the Engineering Documentation category.

Coach Gavin Samuels said the team this year, like others, was strong.

“Our strength generally comes about during judging as opposed to on the field. We often have challenges where that is concerned. However, this year, we are very happy to have won our very first ever gold medal,” Samuels told The Gleaner as the team arrived at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston.

He acknowledged, however, that there are areas where improvement is needed.

“One of the big mantras of this programme is that it’s more than just the robot. So while the robot’s ability to compete on the field is important, that’s not the only metric that we look at,” Samuels said.

Team spokesperson Taeija-Lee Hall-Watts, who attends the American International School in Kingston, said there was much significance in the victory.

“That’s an award that says we spent a lot of time [on our robot] and did diligent work,” Hall-Watts said in commenting on Engineering Documentation, which was one of several categories at the four-day tournament, which featured some 160 countries.

Samuels said the team was elated to finally mine gold on the international stage and believes that the victory can encourage youth to embrace STEM activities.

“Robotics is the way of the future. In addition to building a robot, there are a lot of hard and soft skills that students will be developing, including the ability to communicate, public speaking, documentation, collaboration, creativity, and all of those skill sets will be very helpful in the future,” Samuels said.

He told The Gleaner that Team Jamaica was extremely grateful to the Union of Jamaica Alumni Associations (UJAA) for its continued sponsorship.

“Year after year, and this year again, they came out in a big way. We are very happy for UJAA, very happy to have been invited to compete as well,” Samuels said.

In the meantime, the coach is recommending a change in the way students are taught to ensure that they are ready for the future.

“We can’t be training students for jobs of today and the economy of today. We have to be future focused in what we’re doing. When we look at jobs that are available today, many of them are not going to be available in the next 20, 30 years,” he said.

“[We should be] more future-focused and technology-driven. Programmes like robotics are helping students to change their way of thinking, embrace technology, and prepare for the future,” he said.

Team captain Johnathon Smith told The Gleaner that preparation took roughly two months.

“We started in July and had meetings almost every day throughout the weeks up until September,” Smith said, revealing that the team comprises students from various local high schools.

He expressed hope that local competitions such as First Tech Challenge and the just introduced First Lego Challenge, both held locally, will continue to foster growth.