4th Preiļi Robotics Championship held on 25 January 2020!
On 25 January 2020, the fourth Preiļi Robotics Championship (PRC) was held at the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium (JEPVĢ). From the very beginning, the aim of the competition has been to popularise robotics in Latgale and the importance of the exact sciences!
This year’s competition had participants from Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Estonia! We were very glad and honoured to host teams from neighbouring countries!
This year 390 robot teams from 69 institutions/organisations/clubs were registered for the competition. During the competition, 45 prizes provided by sponsors were won and presented, and in total places on 15 podiums were won!
At the start of the competition the participants were welcomed by the director of JEPVĢ Ligita Pauniņa and the deputy chair of the Preiļi Municipality Council Klavdija Zarāne. For the 4th year in a row the event was hosted by Kristaps Skutelis (kursors.lv), who throughout the day commented on, interviewed and entertained the competitors in a very engaging way!
At the competition, participants could take part with 2 types of robots – using LEGO parts, or using electronic components, which is called free structure. This year the competition was held in the events of Mini sumo, Lego sumo, iRobot sumo, Lego line following, free-structure line following, Lego Folkrace, free-structure Folkrace, Freestyle, AntWeight and drone competition. In some events participants were divided into age groups (pupils, amateurs, professionals). There were requirements for the size and weight of the robots’ construction, and other design restrictions and rules, which were described in the regulations. New this year was the AntWeight robot competition, held for the first time in Latvia.
The drone competition was thrilling for spectators to watch, with an interesting course built by the robotics enthusiast Kārlis Pīgožņis – part of the drone course was above the spectators’ heads!
Special THANKS go to:
the chief referees of the competition Māris Bečs and Armands Upenieks for running the competition fairly,
the chief referees of the events: line following – Matīss Dambītis, Folkrace – Reinis Ņikuļcevs and Linards Šmeikstis, sumo – Einārs Deksnis, Freestyle – Māris Bečs, AntWeight – Edgars Skruodis, iRobot sumo – Dainis Kļaviņš, and Kārlis Pīgožņis for organising the drone competition, providing the equipment and running the competition successfully!
Eduards Lipiniks for creating the competition website!
Kristaps Skutelis, better known as @krizdabz, for his excellent hosting and commentary of the event! Kristaps is an enthusiastic expert on new technologies, whose possibilities Kursors.lv (@kursorslv) presents on radio, TV and in the press.
Fizmix and Lemona for the interesting activities for pupils.
the sound and video streaming team Justs Ribinickis and Aivis Sudnikis for video streaming throughout the day, editing and broadcasting the most interesting moments of the competition.
Gunārs Vilcāns for capturing moments of the competition in photographs!
SIA Arka Preiļi for the tasty biscuits and the canteen cooks for the lunches for the competition participants!
Members of the Preiļi Robotics Club managed to achieve good results in several events.
Matīss Buks won – 1st place in Mini sumo, PRO group, and
together with Aldis Buks 1st place and 3rd place in free-structure robot Folkrace.
Edīte Meikulāne, in an emotionally charged fight, finished 2nd and 4th in iRobot.
Lorita Ūzuliņa, in competition of more than 60 robots, won 4th place in Lego sumo, grades 6–12.
This year participants from neighbouring countries provided considerable competition, leaving several members of our team just behind the podium.
THANK YOU to the many students of the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium for their volunteer work, and to the technical staff and teachers who took part in organising the competition!
The winners of 1st–3rd places received valuable prizes, provided thanks to the sponsors and supporters of the competition: iRobot, Robotiem.lv, Starptautiskā inovāciju skola, Capital, Kursors.lv, TestDevLab, Fizmix, Adaptive, Start(IT), Mikrotik, Letera, Lemona, Proline, Goodman group, LMT, True Story.
On behalf of the organisers of the Preiļi Robotics Championship, Juris Erts