Pupils from ALO won the Droniada Junior
The first and second place went to pupils of the Academic Secondary Comprehensive School of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice in the first edition of the Droniada Junior.
Droniada Junior is one of the tracks of Droniada GZM 2024. It is held under the auspices of the European City of Science Katowice (EMNK). The aim of the tournament, addressed to primary and secondary school pupils, is to inspire and develop the interests of children and young people towards drone technologies.
- The competition is held using small, programmable educational drones, which do not require any authorization, which allowed the competition to be directed to virtually every pupil interested in drones - explains Dr Eng. Aldona Rosner from the Continuing Education Centre - a branch of the Silesian University of Technology in Rybnik.
The event was very popular because over 110 participants from 20 schools took part in the qualifying rounds - mainly from Silesia (Gliwice, Rybnik, Katowice, Przyszowice and Tychy), but also from Warsaw and Przemyśl. The competition was conducted in three age categories: grades 4-6, grades 7-8 and a secondary schools category which was a team competition - it consisted of teams of 2-3 people.
The pupils were faced with two tasks as part of the "Transport drone operator" competition. It involved overcoming an obstacle course during which manual skills were tested and the transport of a small shipment to the destination, during which programming skills were assessed.
As many as four teams from the Academic Secondary Comprehensive School of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice got in to the finals in the secondary schools category, which took place in the sports hall of the 4th Secondary Comprehensive School named after General Stanisław Maczek in Katowice.
- The pupils chose their own teams. They prepared for the tournament in their free time. However, they are very good at programming because at school we have an additional subject related to it. During the competition, they had to deal with time pressure and I think this was the greatest difficulty for the participants - explains Dr Małgorzata Szymaszek, a teacher at ALO (Academic Secondary Comprehensive School) in Gliwice and the team leader in Droniada Junior.
Ultimately, after fierce competition, in the secondary school category, the pupils of ALO of the Silesian University of Technology from the SpaceCoffee and MMK Sky teams took the top two steps on the podium. Among grades 4-6, the representatives from Primary School 35 in Rybnik under the name Team Sun were the winners , and in the category of grades 7-8, the ANBLA team from Primary School 350 in Warsaw won. The winners received cups, medals and numerous prizes.
- The competition in the final was very even and the level of competence was very high - says Dr Eng. Aldona Rosner. - We are extremely pleased that the participants worked very well in their teams, thus developing interpersonal competences, including teamwork and team communication, competences that are so sought after by employers.
– We belong to a science club that operates at the Faculty of Automatic Control, Electronics and Computer Science of the Silesian University of Technology under the name SpaceCoffee - says Kamil Moszumański from the winning SpaceCoffee team. - We are happy with the victory. It was a nice adventure for us. We did great with drone programming, so when we found out that we got the second time on the obstacle course, we counted on winning.
There is still another competition ahead of us, i.e. "Transport of the future in the city 2050".
- At this moment, we have announced the results of the qualifying rounds and invited six teams to the finals, which will take place on June 19 at the Faculty of Transport and Aviation Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology in Katowice - says Dr Eng. Aldona Rosner.
SpaceCoffee from ALO in Gliwice will take part again, as well as three teams from the Communication School Complex in Gliwice and one each from the Automotive School Complex in Gliwice and the Mechanical School Complex from Rybnik.
The organizers of Droniada Junior are the Mikromakro Institute Foundation, Little Bit Academy and the Silesian University of Technology. Volunteers cooperating with the Continuing Education Centre- Branch of the Silesian University of Technology in Rybnik help in preparing the competition.
