5th Preiļi Robotics Championship, a round of the 15th Latvian Robotics Championship, held

After a break of 3 years, on 28 January 2023 the 5th Preiļi Robotics Championship round of the 15th Latvian Robotics Championship (PRC 2023) was held at the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium (JEPVĢ). From the very beginning, the overarching aim of the competition has been to popularise robotics in Latgale and throughout Latvia, as well as the importance of the exact sciences!

This year’s competition had participants from Latvia and Lithuania! We were glad that our friends from Lithuania were represented in great numbers – one third of all participants were from Lithuania. 294 robot teams from 50 institutions/organisations/clubs were registered for the competition. During the competition, 45 prizes provided by sponsors were won and presented, and 15 sets of cups were awarded! It is also gratifying that the event attracted interest not only among participants but also a fairly large number of visitors.

At the start of the competition the participants were welcomed by the director of the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium Ligita Pauniņa, the chair of the Preiļi Municipality Council Arijs Vucāns, the director of the Latgale Planning Region Development Agency Māris Bozovičs, the deputy director of JEPVĢ and organiser of the competition Juris Erts, and the chief referee of the Preiļi Robotics Championship Armands Upenieks.

The event was hosted by the musician, TV and radio programme maker and producer Arnis Slobožaņins, who greeted the participants with an inspiring musical greeting and throughout the day commented on, interviewed and entertained the competitors!

At the competition, participants could take part with 2 types of robots – using LEGO (including parts from other construction sets), 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 or 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 were the free-structure Folkrace pupils’ and PRO groups.

One of the most spectacular competitions was the AntWeight robot competition, in which Lithuanian teams demonstrated their skills. The drone competition was thrilling for spectators to watch, and once again the robotics enthusiast Kārlis Pīgožnis had built an interesting course.

The competition could certainly not have taken place without the many – more than 70 – volunteer helpers and referees! Special THANKS go to: the chief referee of the competition Armands Upenieks and Gundars Miezītis for compiling the tournament tables, and the chief referees of the events: line following – Linards Šmeikstis and Matīss Dambītis, Folkrace – Kārlis Berkholds, Lego sumo – Dāvis Kundziņš, Mini sumo and iRobot sumo – Einārs Deksnis, Freestyle – Māris Bečs, AntWeight – Edgars Skruodis, drone competition – Kārlis Pīgožnis.

A great deal of work was done by the referees – Agnis Liepiņš, Harijs Grīnbergs, Edīte Meikulāne, Dinārs Kemzāns, Eduards Lipiniks, Mārtiņš Zemlītis, Igors Ļaksa, Eduards Lipiniks, Glorija Baliniškīte, Raimonds Kabutavics, Jānis Bērziņš, Edmunds Kadakovskis.

I would like to acknowledge all those supporters who contributed to the successful running of the competition, so thank you to Eduards Lipiniks for creating the competition website and administering its content! The competition could be watched live thanks to the video streaming team, who throughout the day edited and broadcast the most interesting moments of the competition under the leadership of Justs Ribinickis. Thank you to Jānis Ziediņš for technical support before and after the competition.

New this year were Jānis Bērziņš’s quiz competition and the questions prepared for the participants by Vitolds Bīriņš – Jānis had prepared some very tricky questions, and the most knowledgeable or luckiest participants received sweets, provided by the Preiļi company “Pie torņa”, for correct answers! Another novelty was the activities of the improviser Marta, who entertained the participants and made the atmosphere more cheerful with her special “robot image”.

Ieva Babre, Inese Anina and Dāvids Latvelis captured the best moments of the competition in photographs! The participants responded very positively to the biscuits provided by the catering service provider SIA Picu bode, and send many thanks to the canteen cooks for the tasty lunches!

On the day of the competition, a surprise came from Inese Grīnvalde Kabutaviča, representative of A/S “Cēsu alus”, who had prepared a set of refreshing drinks for every winner! It should of course be added that the company “Cēsu alus” produces a variety of popular soft drinks, which were also given to the participants!

Although the competition was quite fierce, members of the Preiļi Robotics Club also managed to achieve good results in several events:

The PRK/Robotu skola team with Matīss Buks won – 1st place and 3rd place in Mini sumo, PRO group, and together with Aldis Buks 1st place, 2nd place and 3rd place in free-structure robot Folkrace, PRO group.
One of the most successful members of the PRK team was Andrejs Gžibovskis (8.D), who managed to win 1st place and 3rd place in Lego line following and 2nd place in Lego Folkrace!
Patrīcija Reščenko (12.A) won 1st place in free-structure robot Folkrace, pupils’ group.
Anastasija Krohmaļuka (12.A) and Katrīna Jaundzema (12.A) won 3rd place in Mini sumo, pupils’ group.

Jānis Bērzinieks achieved a good result, placing 5th in the fierce competition of 56 Lego sumo (13+) robots. Anastasija Krohmaļuka with iRobot finished just behind the podium – in 4th place. Likewise just behind the podium with their free-structure line following robots were Mārtiņš Ulpe (11.V) and Markuss Martinkus (11.V).

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 and running the competition and in the work afterwards!

The winners of 1st–3rd places received valuable prizes, provided thanks to the sponsors and supporters of the competition: Mans robots (iRobot), Starptautiskā inovāciju skola, Uzdevumi.lv, Mikrotik, SIA Preiļu celtnieks, kursors.lv, Robotiem.lv, LMT, SIA Sensuslab, Letera, SIA Vektor, Lielvārds, SIA Pie torņa, AS Cēsu alus.

Financial support from the RoboNet project, implemented by the Latgale Planning Region Development Agency, was important for organising the competition.

Media support from kursors.lv

Interview on the Radio 1 programme “Bez robežām”: how robotics championships and robotics schools can promote the development of engineering sciences

Information about the competition, results, photo gallery, recording of the live broadcast on YouTube.

On behalf of the organisers of the Preiļi Robotics Championship, Juris Erts

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