A group of talented high school students – and their unique state-of-the-art robot – are heading to Athens, Greece, on Monday to compete in an international robotics competition.
The team of eight students, aged between 14 and 17, will represent the Cayman Islands in the annual FIRST Global Challenge event, and will be competing against teams from more than 190 countries.
During the three-day competition, teams will work together to complete tasks in games themed around challenges facing the planet. This year’s theme, ‘Feeding the Future’, challenges students to find ways to provide the global population with safe, nutritious, and environmentally-responsible food.
Teams will have to manoeuvre their robot in a simulated world that shows the complex relationship between water, energy, and food systems, while managing and balancing global resources to support a sustainable food system.
A team from the Cayman Islands first took part in the FIRST Global Challenge in Mexico City in 2018. Since then, high schools on the islands have run an interschool robotics initiative to select the national team.
This year, a student from each of the competing schools was chosen to represent the national team, with two selected from Triple C to bring the total to eight.
With the support of national robotics coach Desmond White, the team spent the summer months designing and building their robot from a standard kit of parts. Former members of the national team, who participated in Singapore, Geneva or Dubai, have been lending their help to this year’s team.
The 2024 Cayman Islands National Robotics Team is made up of: Garson Gardiner (John Gray High School), Jamie Johnson (Clifton Hunter High School), Aryan Ramsammy (Layman E. Scott High School), Liam Benson (Cayman Prep & High School), Megha Cherayath (St. Ignatius Catholic School), Harry Cowell (Cayman International School), Abe Mohammed and Daeniell Pink (Triple C School).
Daeniell, 17, told the Compass that she was looking forward to the experience.
“Each country receives the same kit to build their robots, and we customised some of the parts to make it exactly how we wanted it,” she said. “The biggest challenge was getting the vertical slides to work which took a lot of testing! We’ve really worked well together as a team, as everyone has different skills such as programming, engineering and construction.”
Former participant Teejhan Hansraj, 17, who competed in the FIRST Global Challenge in Geneva in 2022, said it was important for the teams to “remain cool and calm under pressure”.
Challenges come thick and fast during the event, with teams having just two-and-a-half minutes to complete each task.
The challenge opens on 26 Sept. with an opening ceremony at Panathenaic Stadium, site of the first modern Olympic Games.
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