Students from nine ORT schools participated
The ORT emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning was evident March 22, when 60+ students ages 11-17 from nine ORT schools in Russia, Ukraine, Argentina, Mexico and Israel participated in the annual Robotraffic event at Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), where several ORT teams placed at the top three levels.
Robotraffic is an international competition first held by Technion in 2010, in which students are judged on their ability to create an autonomous computer-controlled robot model that advances on a given trajectory in accordance with the rules of the road. The competition is intended to interest students in issues surrounding traffic laws, physical limitations of vehicles and drivers, and the prevention of accidents (particularly among young people), and motivate them to continue their enthusiasm for and dedication to mastering STEM.
Students prepare for the competition throughout the school year. They form teams and with robotic car assembly kits developed and provided by Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), they design, build and program models to achieve the goals of the competition, drawing on their engineering, electrical engineering and programming knowledge and skills. The teams are judged in six categories: Careful driving, advanced careful driving, racing, traffic safety initiatives, traffic regulations and rules, and solidworks (design and engineering).
For the 2018 competition, students were asked to focus on safety issues related to electric bicycles: Protecting pedestrians from being hit, protecting bicycle riders from being hit by vehicles, and designing paths for electric bicycles to enhance safety.[1]
ORT Odessa students celebrating the prize.
As has been seen throughout the years of the competition, students are invested, enjoy their projects and work hard to excel and have their accomplishments recognized. As proof of this, placing first in the careful driving and racing categories was a team from ORT Argentina, and in the solidworks category, a team from ORT Chernovsky Ukraine. Winners of the overall competition were ORT Kazan and ORT Odessa teams in second and third place respectively; and winners of the Robotraffic project were ORT Odessa and ORT Kazan in first and second place respectively.[2]
The ORT students from Russia and Ukraine were sponsored by IBS Group, which provided their flights, accommodations, tours and transfers.
