International robotics tourney team’s mission bigger than just competing in Washington – STEMGuyana Coordinator
Having successfully completed their summer 2016 STEMGuyana project involving children from various parts of the coast, the team behind the project has embarked on a new initiative, preparing ten Guyanese youngsters for what will probably be the challenge of their lives, participation in an international robotics competition in Washington DC in July this year.
Once Stabroek Business had broken the news last week, STEMGuyana Project Coordinator Karen Abrams agreed to talk at length about the competition and more particularly about the world of robotics and where it might take Guyana.
Abrams said that for the five students and two adults who will travel to Washington DC to represent Guyana, it is a decidedly ambitious undertaking.
Their exposure to the high-tech pursuit has so far been limited to the series of technology summer camps held in Buxton, Lusignan and Georgetown during the summer of 2016. Asked about their chances of success, she delicately evaded a direct response, pointing out instead that Team Guyana will be competing against young people of varying levels of robotics experience from 150 countries around the world.
“Some of the participants would have been exposed to robot building and programing all their lives. What we have is a team of motivated and enthusiastic novices,” Abrams said.
She said that in a sense the Guyanese may be “competing against themselves” since the level of their success was likely to be judged by different yardsticks. “I’m banking on their hunger and their brilliance and the pride that they feel in having been given an opportunity to represent Guyana,” she added.