Preiļi robotics team wins podium places at Europe’s largest competition “Robotex 2017”
From 24 to 26 November a team from the Preiļi Municipality Robotics Club took part in Europe’s largest robotics competition “Robotex 2017”. The team members set off with 35 robots of various events – 12 minisumo robots, 7 line following robots, 10 Folkrace robots, 6 iRobot sumo robots, built by: Armands Upenieks (Preiļi State Gymnasium graduate, RTU student, team adviser), Linards Šmeiksts (Preiļi State Gymnasium graduate, RTU student, team adviser), Matīss Dambītis (Preiļi State Gymnasium graduate, RTU student, team adviser), Aldis Buks (parents’ representative), Matīss Buks (JEPVĢ, 11.V), Eduards Lipiniks (JEPVĢ, 12.D), Iļja Isajevs (JEPVĢ, 12.D), Iļja Martinovs (JEPVĢ, 11.D), Margarita Džeriņa (JEPVĢ, 11.D), Edīte Meikulāne (JEPVĢ, 10.D) and Lauris Šmeiksts (Preiļi 1st Primary School, grade 9). Although the competition was very strong, our team members showed good results in various events.
In the list of all the robots registered for the competition you can see the countries represented: https://voistlus.robotex.ee/2017/osalejad
This year was successful for us, because we managed to win Robotex podiums in the Folkrace event – 2nd place was won by the robot MoricsV6 of Matīss Buks and Aldis Buks, and 3rd place by the robot Jaguar of Iļja Martinovs and Iļja Isajevs. 103 robots competed in the Folkrace event, divided into 21 sub-groups. From each sub-group only the winners of the group runs went through to the 2nd round, and we are glad that 7 of our robots qualified for it. 25 robots competed in the 2nd round and 5 robots qualified for the final – 2 of them ours. The final run was nerve-racking, but of the 5 participants ours took 2nd and 3rd place. Armands Upenieks’s robot NO BLEDIS (Mach) only just missed taking part in the final – Armands’s robot finished 4th overall.
The minisumo participants also showed good results – among 94 robots the robot RockV1 of Matīss Buks and Aldis Buks finished in shared 5th–6th place overall and the robot Bizons of Linards and Lauris Šmeiksts in 7th–8th place. The minisumo competition results can be found at: https://voistlus.robotex.ee/2017/punktid/53/print
In the line following event the competition was at a very high level. Our Lithuanian colleagues from the Šiauliai Robotics Club had prepared very competitive robots, but this year everyone was surprised by participants from Romania, who showed top-quality results, taking the entire podium. In the overall line following results the best result among ours – 29th place (the 2nd best result among Latvian participants) – was shown by Eduards Lipiniks with the robot Loki and 30th place by Matīss Dambītis with the robot Aventador. Close results were also achieved by the robot Vektors of Lauris and Linards, the robot Slowpok of Iļja Martinovs and Iļja Isajevs and Margarita Džeriņa’s Rysaks. Line following competition results: https://voistlus.robotex.ee/2017/punktid/59
This year the iRobots built by our members also took part in their first competition. The robot Glitter of Linards and Lauris Šmeiksts, Eduards Lipiniks’s Sigurd, IljMarIs of Iļja Martinovs and Iļja Isajevs, Margarita Džeriņa’s Melchior and Edīte Meikulāne’s Skyrippa made their debuts. Thank you to Robotu skola for providing the parts for building the iRobots!
All the competition results can be found at: https://voistlus.robotex.ee/2017/punktid/
Robotex 2017 is not only a competition venue but also a technology exhibition, where you can see the latest trends and achievements in IT. After spending 3 days in the hall, we had the impression that almost all Tallinn families with children had visited the event. The event was organised so that children of any age found something to do. All the children’s activities were creative, educational and interesting. An event of this level would be needed in Latvia too.
Thank you to all the members of the Preiļi team for the work put into preparing for the competition, especially our graduates – advisers Armands Upenieks, Linards Šmeiksts, Matīss Dambītis and the parents’ representative Aldis Buks! Thank you for help in capturing photo moments of the event to graduates Ginta Meikulāne and Kristiāna Skutele.
Now we have to prepare for the TSI robotics competition on 16 December and on 27 January not only to take part but also to organise the “Preiļi Robotics Championship”!
The Preiļi Robotics Club has operated at Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium since February 2015, in cooperation with the Preiļi Children and Youth Centre and the municipality council’s IT centre. Robotics activities are financially supported by Preiļi Municipality Council.
Juris Erts, head of the Preiļi Robotics Club
