Distinctions for the Greek National Team in the Robotics Olympiad

The Greek National Robotics Team “FIRST Global Challenge Team Greece” represented Greece in the Robotics Olympiad FIRST GLOBAL Challenge “Discover and Recover 2021” which took place from June 27, 2021 to September 25, 2021 and managed to bring the Gold Medal in its field Health in the FIRST Global Challenge Award category, the Silver Medal for the project “Panakeia” and the Bronze Medal for winning the 3rd place in the general classification of the Olympics.

It is the first time that a Greek Robotics Team manages to bring medals in all the competition categories to our country in a World Organization, but also in the general World ranking at the same time.

The Greek National Team started after an initiative of the Eduact Non-Profit Educational Association – Action for Education. Eduact introduces new educational programs for all its children of tomorrow in Greece from 2013, through innovative actions that cultivate the skills of the future.

The cornerstone of our project is the introduction of educational robotics in the skill workshops from their pilot application. In 2018, Eduact managed to include our country in the map of the world organization of the FIRST GLOBAL Robotics Olympiad.

An open call was addressed to students of our country and today, the group consists of 30 children from all over Greece aged 14-18 years, who were selected, based on their knowledge in programming and robotics, their involvement with science , their experience from participation in respective national and world events but also the motivation to have such an opportunity in knowledge.

The above were evaluated by a special committee, composed of educational academics and members of the Board of Directors of the body responsible for the organization in Greece – Eduact – in order to make the final selection of representatives.

Students from Thessaloniki, Attica, Patras, Nafpaktos, Orestiada, Crete worked hard all summer and created the robot Panakeia – an autonomous home nurse who can take basic measurements from patients, inform medical staff and disinfect a small space, the Heron robot, which can move accurately in defined paths, collect and carry objects, throw balls and cubes at a distance and lift its weight, and, Finally, their own version of the so-called Cubesat, a small meteorological satellite designed to study atmospheric data and alert the ground station to potential fires.

The Robotics Olympiad FIRST GLOBAL Challenge is a global robotics, science and technology event, in which national teams from 190 countries participate with children aged 16-18. This year ‘s “Discover and Recover 2021” Olympiad was the 2nd FIRST Olympics held exclusively from a distance and aimed to activate young people around the world to research and propose innovative solutions that will aim to address the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in four areas: health, education, economy and environment:

1. Education: Group solutions must be geared towards how they can build effective, resilient, equitable and personalized education systems that are not confined to a “physical” classroom, making learning accessible to all, everywhere.

2. Environment: Team solutions must be investment-oriented in a more sustainable future for our planet, necessary to ensure both short-term and long-term vitality for our communities and the planet.

3. Health: As health challenges continue to emerge and evolve, team solutions must focus on improving access to, efficiency and affordability of health care, as key keys to improving global health. .

4. Economy: Group solutions must be geared towards creating a more resilient economy that can operate productively both offline and online, through collaborative innovation and investment.

The Olympics evolved into 3 phases.

For the first phase (Solutions Challenge Award), the Greek National Team selected the very key sector of health and developed Panakeia.

For the second phase, the Greek team had to create an alliance with an team from a different continent that has chosen the same theme category. Creating alliances is one of the most important parts of the Olympiad, as it creates the conditions for the young people of the world to get in touch, work and learn together, and to present a common proposal, overcoming the limitations set by the borders. , different languages, different cultures. Greece and Canada jointly advanced to the third phase (Solution Grand Challenge Award) and combined their innovative solutions into a joint integrated proposal, which was declared the top in the world.

The participation of the Greek National Team in the FIRSTGlobal Challenge Olympiad is the culmination of the Panhellenic Robotics & Innovation Championship FIRST® CHAMPIONSHIP GREECE implemented by Eduact – Action for Education.

The team is led by Mr. Anastasios Kollias, Doctor of the University of Athens, associate and LEGO Education Trainer of O3 Out of the Ordinary, research associate of Eduact and the Greek Team.