Presentation College, Chaguanas robotics team heads to Panama

KATHY RAMDEEN

FOR the fifth time Trinidad and Tobago will be represented at the First Global Robotics Challenge.

For their fourth outing the team of five students and two teachers from Presentation College, Chaguanas will head to Panama City, Panama, on October 27.

The team competed virtually in 2021, owing to the covid19 pandemic.

The 2025 competition runs from from October 29-November 1.

The competition, which attracts almost 200 countries from all across the globe, challenges young innovators to build and program robots that solve real-world problems – this year centred around the theme Eco Equilibrium.

The team copped the Video and Story-telling Award and Helping Hands Award in Singapore 2023, the Social Media Award and most notably third place in the joint alliance in 2024 Athens, Greece.

Team TT has been working around the clock to refine their design before heading to Panama, teacher and adviser Tricia Singh told Newsday in a WhatsApp exchange on October 11.

Before the team heads out to Panama the preliminary work is being done by a local team, made up of students from Presentation College, Chaguanas and St Augustine Girls High School.

This is the first time Presentation College has collaborated with another school.

Singh said, They spent months refining their robot and sharpening their coding and engineering skills.

The team, Singh added, is supported by a network of local mentors, engineers, government officials and educators.

She said, "Their creation is designed to simulate sustainable energy production and management – a direct response to the event’s focus on renewable solutions for the future.

“For the team, the project represents more than a competition; it’s a chance to showcase their ability to collaborate. Collaborations between schools and at the competition countries to work together for everyone's benefit. It's not a competition but a community where every team co-operates to achieve a single goal.“

Singh hopes as the delegation prepares to fly to Panama, national pride and excitement would build.

People, she said, have already taken to social media to show their support. Some people are planning to view the competition live from the official First Global YouTube channel and cheer on their home team.

“Regardless of the final results, TT’s participation is being hailed as a move in the right direction to ignite STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) enthusiasm across the country," she said.