First Global international Robotics Challenge |21 July 2017

Nisti wins outstanding supporter bronze medal

Parents, teachers and staff members of the National Institute for Science, Technology and Innovation greeted and congratulated the team of six students from Beau Vallon secondary school on their arrival yesterday at the Seychelles International airport.

They had taken part as members of Team Seychelles in the First Global international Robotics Challenge in Washington DC, United States of America (USA).

At the First Global international Robotics Challenge, the National Institute for Science, Technology and Innovation (Nisti) won bronze medal for the Al-Khwarizmi Award for outstanding supporter.

This award recognises institutions, sponsors or governments that have contributed a positive dimension to further the First Global Challenge and add value to the execution of the mission.

Overall Team Seychelles was ranked 105th out of 163 countries, beating countries like the USA, the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Egypt, Hong Kong, Belgium, Uruguay, Sri Lanka and Russia.

The students who took part in the challenger were Nellie Azemia as team leader, Stana Mousbe as the press and spokesperson, Damian Ernesta and Frazer Nalletamby as the programmer, builder and operators, Shana Banane as designer and Anil Buron as designer, builder and  tactician.

It was Roya Mahboob, chief executive of the Digital Citizen Fund, who presented the prize for outstanding supporter. The bronze medal went to Nisti, silver to Nigeria and gold to Tunisia.

What the students had to do was to play a game called H.O Flow played by two alliances: Hydro and Aqua, each of which comprises three national teams. The alliance that scores the most points at the end of two and a half minutes game is declared the winner. The team had to place the blue water particles (balls) into the reserve scoring 1 point or transport the orange contaminated particles into the laboratories located at the top of the bridge scoring 4 points.

 At the end, each team could get 20 points if their robot successfully pulled themselves off the ground by using the climbing bar on the table.

Team leader Nellie Azemia said: “We had to nominate a person here in Seychelles who supported us so we could go to Washington. As the team leader I nominated Nisti and CEO Estico. We had to give a brief detail on how the organisation has helped us. I did tell Mr Estico this is an award we see us winning. At the closing ceremony someone called me. I followed that person not knowing why. Then he said loudly, the ‘Al-Khwarizmi award goes to Seychelles for third place’. As team captain I made sure our team worked together. I helped them by providing moral support so we could win. There was a lot of tension and we were the smallest country and also the younger participants. We told ourselves we could do it and we did it”.

Damian Ernesta said “my contribution on the team was to programme the robot for it to function well. I also assisted in the mounting of the robot which was given to all participating countries”.

As for Anil Buron, he said: “I also assisted in the mounting of the robot and contributed towards other strategy in the alliance. As from the designs we mounted the robot, tested if it worked. Our robot shape was unique as the others were of square shape”.

Frazer Nalletamby explained that he “was a programmer and also one of the pilots in the competition. Pilot is the person controlling the robot. There were two controllers controlling the robot.”

Stana Mousbé said: “We were looking for a new way of designing the robot to stand apart from those of the other countries. We looked at the videos of the teams and we said why not do ours differently. Ours was of a rectangular shape while all other countries were square-shaped”.

Kevin Dupres, who accompanied the students, was really excited about the bronze medal won  and the performance of the Seychelles team though he said he was disappointed with the teams who took part with them.

“Some teams who formed part of the team we were classified in were not up to the level and this made us lose points. At one point, I had to go and talk to them. The important thing is we won. And considering the time Nisti was set up and the amount of time we had to prepare the students, this is a great feat for Seychelles,” he said.

Two parents ‒ Marie Antoinette Savy, Nellie’s mum; and Monica Marie, Stana’s mum ‒ also expressed their great joy and pride on the achievement of their children.

Nisti chief executive Xavier Estico explained that “Nisti’s initiatives are to open up skills in sciences, technology and innovation in schools which will instill interest, appreciation and relevance with everyday life, making sure schools are not isolated”.

He added that communities are also being called upon to come forward to help in bringing about those extra-curricular activities to help instill positive things in the children’s live so we can eventually fight against the negative things.

Beau Vallon was the first science club launched though there is also one on Praslin. And because a lot of technical and logistics attention were needed prior to taking part in the global challenge, Beau Vallon being the nearest school to Bel Ombre-based Nisti, it was given the help needed to take part.