Students from Mississauga make history winning global robot competition

Four students from Mississauga took home a top prize in a global competition for a robot that could help fight forest fires.

The students made history becoming the first Canadian team to win first place at the World Robot Olympiad Open Championship, Future Innovators Junior event in Brescia, Italy in September, the Peel District School Board said.

The all-female team, Chathak Kaur, Rubanya Anand, Melanie Rose Ramcharran, and Chitra Sekhri, qualified for the World Robot Olympiad earlier this year while they were students at Darcel Avenue Senior Public School in Malton.

They are now Grade 9 high school students.

The winning project, called the “Blaze-Bot” is designed to combat wildfires. The robot uses coded sensors to closely monitor its environment and take preventive action to stop zombie fires and wildfires from spreading by communicating with a main control system and local fire stations.

With coaching from their Grade 8 French immersion teacher, Priya Parekh, the students entered the FSL Future Innovators regionals on April 24, winning first place. They then went to national finals and Montreal, earning a spot at the World Robot Olympiad in Italy from Sept. 26 to 28.

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The team, called Forest Guardians, competed against 42 countries in Brescia, Italy.

When they called out the winners for their category, the team was shocked to learn they had won first place.

“We were practically jumping for joy,” said Melanie. “I felt like we could win, but I didn’t expect that we would win first place.”

Winning was a great feeling.

“It actually feels amazing to do something so good for Canada, to win in our category, for future innovators,” said Chathak.

With a climate change, “Earth Allies” theme, the team chose wildfires as this is an issue impacting Canada. They had all seen how wildfires have devastated parts of Canada and with smoke travelling long distances, the entire country has been impacted.

“We had to think it through, not only at a global scale but also at a personal level, how much it affected us personally,” said Rubanya. ” So we thought maybe this is something we should actually look into, and we should make a difference.”

The robot could be used in the real world.

“We created a robot in a way that it would actually work,” said Chitra.

Winning the competition was great but the experience of meeting students from around the world and exploring some of Italy was also very rewarding.

“We saw all of the other countries, all of their booths,” said Melanie. “Their projects were also amazing. So well done.”

A team from Korea, for example, tackled flooding.

“It was really cool to see how real-world problems were reflected in their robots,” said Chitra.

Creating the robot made them all think about future careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

“For me, it really opened up doors, I knew about robotics before but I wasn’t really in-depth with it,” said Chathak. “I knew it was cool, and I knew I wanted to try it out and this competition and this opportunity really allowed me to do that.”

The students went beyond robotics.

“My students not only learnt to code but also develop critical digital literacy skills, understanding how technology works and how it can be used to solve real-world complex problems,” said their teacher and coach, Priya Parekh.

The teens are now thinking of careers such as robotic medicine, AI medicine and biomedical engineering.

The school board is very proud.

“They have set a shining example of how some of the world’s biggest challenges can be tackled effectively when we work together,” said Rashmi Swarup, Director of Education, Peel District School Board. “Their ambition, creativity and collaborative spirit are testaments to the exceptional guidance of their teachers and mentors as well as the support from the Peel District School Board community. Congratulations to the team of young, female innovators for inspiring us all!”

The Blaze-Bot