The 2017 robotics competition season ends with good results!
On 6 May 2017 the “Latvian Robotics Championship 2017” (LRC) took place at RTU in Riga.
248 robots from 56 organisations, schools, clubs and robotics groups took part in the competition. A fairly large number of robots – 41 – had come from Lithuania, and they created unbeatable competition in the line following event in particular.
From Preiļi District, teams of the Preiļi Robotics Club (PRK) and Preiļi Secondary School No. 2 took part in the competition. In total, 27 participants with 39 robots took part from Preiļi. It should be added that the youngest participant of our team was from grade 1.
The Preiļi Robotics Club was represented by: Linda Madelāne, Matīss Dambītis, Matīss Buks, Ilja Isajevs, Iļja Martinovs, Eduards Lipiniks,Toms Vilcāns, Jānis Ziemelis, Reinis Ķiberis, Aija Gžibovska, Margarita Džeriņa, Valdis Mihailovs, Solvita Ragauša, Santa Vojevodska, Agris Vojevodskis, Guntis Bogotais, Domeniks Mežinieks, Egīls Sirmais, Oskars Martinkus, Markuss Martinkus, Mārtiņš Ulpe. The Lego team of Preiļi Secondary School No. 2 was represented by: Daniils Ļedovskojs, Artjoms Vasiļjevs, Pāvels Čerņecovs, Anastasija Čabaņuka.
Teachers, coaches and parents’ representatives: Juris Erts, Aldis Buks, Armands Upenieks, Linards Šmeiksts, Valdas Martinkus, Aivars Podskočijs.
Of the 9 LRC events, ours took part in 7: MiniSUMO, Line followers, Folkrace, iRobot, Lego line followers, Lego folkrace, Lego sumo.
Although the competition was strong enough, 7 medals and diplomas were brought home. Although all participants had prepared diligently before the competition, the largest number of medals was brought home by Matīss Buks (10.V), winning: 1st place and 3rd place in the folkrace event, 2nd place and 3rd place in the minisumo event. Aldis Buks helped Matīss to prepare the robots for the competition.
Toms Teodors Vilcāns (10.D) won 2nd place in the folkrace event. Armands Upenieks helped to prepare the robots for the competition.
For the second year in a row, Linda Madelāne (12.B) won 1st place in the minisumo event. Armands Upenieks helped to prepare the robots for the competition.
We are also pleased with the 3rd place won by the Preiļi Secondary School No. 2 team in the Lego Folkrace event.
For the first time we took part in the iRobot competition event. Eduards Lipiniks (11.D) rebuilt a worn-out iRobot vacuum cleaner into a sumo fighting robot, thus giving the iRobot a second chance to be useful. The rebuilding of the robot was guided remotely by Armands Upenieks.
For the first time we took part in the competition with sumo robots made entirely “with our own hands”, and two prototypes were developed. One was built by Matīss & Aldis Buks and the other by Armands Upenieks. Matīss won 2nd place with his self-built robot.
Many club members took part in the competition for the first time with line following robots made “with their own hands”. This is also an important step in developing skills and abilities. The building of the line followers was led by Linards Šmeiksts, and great support was also given by Matīss Dambītis. Among the Latvian participants, Matīss Dambītis with his line follower (Aventador) set the 2nd best time, but it is still very hard to compete with the Lithuanians.
The competition in the Folkrace event took place on a track built in Preiļi. The transport of the track to the competition and back was provided by Aldis Buks.
Thank you to the former gymnasium pupil Ginta Meikulāne (3.D) for volunteering to photograph moments of the competition!
The Preiļi Robotics Club sessions take place at the Jānis Eglītis Preiļi State Gymnasium. Thank you to the graduates of the gymnasium, now RTU students, Armands Upenieks and Linards Šmeiksts, for the work they put into advising the pupils! Of course, taking part in the competitions would not be possible without the financial support of the municipality!
Competition rules, results: http://robotuskola.lv/lv/lrc
Juris Erts, head of the Preiļi Robotics Club