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The World Educational Robot Contest (WER) Asian Open will be hosted in Singapore for the first time on 13 and 14 July 2019 at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
The inaugural WER Asian Open contest, jointly organised by the World Educational Robotics Society (WERS), RoboticsPlus, and NUS Students’ Engineering Club will see more than 150 students (aged 4 to 18) from around Asia coming together to solve a series of complex robotic challenges and to pit their creative and logical skills against each other.
The top two teams to emerge from the WER 2019 Asian Open will go on to compete in the WER 2019 World Finals in Shanghai, China, December 2019.
What’s more, two of Singapore’s teams competing in this year’s WER Asian Open comprises of six students from Chongzheng Primary School, who are under MOE financial aid and have been given access to the opportunity to compete internationally against other student robotics enthusiasts.
To better prepare themselves for the competition, these six students have gone through an introductory ‘Young Coders @ North East’, supported by North East Community Development Council (NECDC), followed by an advanced robotics course fully funded by a local robotics education company, RoboticsPlus. These programs are meant to help the students build up their fundamental robotic skills and knowledge ahead of the WER Asian Open.
Introducing students to the fundamentals of robotics and coding programs allow students a glimpse into the field of robotics and computers, which has become increasingly prevalent in students’ lives today. In addition, it will help to hone their logical and problem-solving skills, which are vital skill sets in today’s society.
“At RoboticsPlus, we believe in enabling every child to achieve his or her fullest potential in the world of robotics. From self-driving cars to A.I. powered robots, the future of robotics and technology is limitless. And we want to play a part in making this future happen – by piquing the interest of the young generation, and providing the right platforms to nurture and groom these young talents,” said Donnie Seet, Chairman of WER Singapore Organising Committee and Director at RoboticsPlus.
For this year’s WER Asian Open, we are glad to have provided the opportunity for six young and passionate students from Chongzheng Primary School to showcase and pit their robotics skills against other enthusiasts on an international level,” he added.
“In line with Singapore’s Smart Nation objectives, we would like to provide our next generation, regardless of background, a future ready education. Providing students from less privileged backgrounds with the Young Coders @ North East Program is a fun way to engage students and develop logical thinking. Beyond the basics, our students are also able to compete with the finest from all over the world, raising their levels of confidence and exposure,” noted Joachim Lee, PBM, District Counsellor of NECDC.