Your trusted source

Ayb School’s robotics team has returned home from the renowned National Robotics Challenge, which took place in Marion, US, from April 7-9, with a silver medal as well as the Honda Innovation Award. Ayb School students have once again represented Armenia with honor on the international educational stage, reads the press release disseminated by the School official website.

According to the information, in the previous months, Ayb’s robotics team had spent day and night preparing for the popular robotics competition, the National Robotics Challenge (NRC, www.thenrc.org). More than 1,300 participants and over 400 robots were presented at NRC 2016, which this year celebrated its 30th anniversary.

Ayb students presented their sumo robot during the competition, and the majority of participants were competing in exactly the “Sumo Robot” category. The robot was constantly in battle throughout the two days of competition in front of thousands of spectators, and competed against those presented by other high schools and colleges. Ayb’s robot surpassed even those teams that had several years of experience in competing in the hope of winning a medal.

According to Ayb’s robotics team director Vazgen Gabrielyan, competition participants and guests were amazed at the Armenian team’s sumo robot and all the work that went into its creation. “Everyone approached us one by one and asked to touch the robot and take pictures with it. Many teachers said that they did not know of any school in the USA where robots are made from scratch,” the teacher recalls.
“Robotics and engineering are important components of Ayb’s educational content. The school’s robotics laboratory and the recently launched fab lab have made education applicable, all while giving our students the best chance to maximally demonstrate their potential and to make new discoveries. This wasn’t Ayb School’s first victory in well-known international robotics competitions, but it was the most significant one. Robotics is an area of great strategic importance. Our team’s victory in this renowned competition is a great achievement not only for Ayb, but for Armenia as well,” Ayb School Head Aram Pakhchanian said.

“Once again you get convinced that Armenian youth is bright, adamant, committed and persistent. Armenian youth does not need ideas, patronage and standards. They will give you thousands of ideas, they will pave their way on high international arenas, and they will beat all standards to set standards on their own. They just need our support. VivaCell-MTS knows that its social investment in the development of robotics in Armenia will have a multiplying effect – we just see the first echoes. It will be continued for sure,” VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian said.  

Ayb’s robotics team has been up and running since 2011. Owing to VivaCell-MTS, the general sponsor of Ayb School’s robotics laboratory and the adjacent MIT-created fab lab, Ayb students have actively participated in numerous international competitions and tournaments. The Company provided support of more than AMD 52 million during 2013-2016, and AMD 92 million for the creation of the fab lab in the years 2013-2015.  VivaCell-MTS attention to developing the robotics in Armenia started back in 2011, and so far the Company invested AMD 218 million in the robotics sector.  

During the 2012 ArmRobotics open competition, two out of three Ayb School teams took both 1st and 2nd place awards with their line-tracking robot, and in 2014, during the same competition, Ayb robotics team won the first prize. In 2013, during the Fireman Robot international competition at Trinity College (Connecticut, USA), Ayb School’s “AybStorm” robot was recognized as the best for theoretical solutions for electronics, among 130 teams from seven countries. Ayb’s two teams were also successful during Sochi’s World Robot Olympiad in 2014.

The National Robotics Challenge competition first took place in 1986 and is considered the longest continually operating world robotics competition. It is made up of 12 categories: Sumo Robot, Mini-Sumo Robot, Rescuing Robot, Hockey Robot, Maze Robot, and more. The competition is open to individuals or teams of elementary, middle, high schools, and colleges. Honda Company is the general sponsor of the competition, reads the statement.