By Avigayil Kadesh
Can you design and build a robotic car programmed to negotiate the streets of a model city? That’s the challenge of Robotraffic, an annual competition held at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology for teens from World ORT schools in several countries.
Robotraffic began as a statewide competition among World ORT-affiliated Israeli schools, launched in 2007 with the founding of the World ORT Kadima Mada program in Israel in cooperation with the Israeli Ministry of Education. Over the past two years, international teams have been added to the mix for a week of friendly competition, meeting peers in Israel and touring. ORT is the world's largest Jewish education and vocational training non-governmental organization, founded in 1880 and currently operating schools, colleges, training centers and programs in 64 countries for Jews and non-Jews.
In March 2013, delegations from 30 Israeli schools greeted teachers and students from nine schools in Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Lithuania and, for the first time, Argentina - which tied for first place in the racing category with Israel’s Hula Valley School, and took second place in the careful driving category.
“The study of robotics is very developed in the FSU (Former Soviet Union) and Argentina,” explains Kadima Mada CEO Avi Ganon. “Next year, a team will come from Bulgaria. It is a gathering of students from around the world with one common language - the language of technology.”
More than 100 participants came to Leumi Robotics Center at the Technion Faculty of Mechanical Engineering to present their software-driven robotic cars before a panel of judges from the Technion and the Education Ministry.
Every team must design the vehicle, configure the software, consider development strategies, build the model and prepare a verbal presentation – in Hebrew for the Israeli groups and in English for the foreign groups.
The machines are scrutinized not only for how well they navigate traffic lights and obstacles, but also for how safely they drive.
“This is for teenagers 14 to 17, who will soon start driving,” says Ganon. “Robotraffic is designed to teach them basic robotics skills and also focuses on basic rules of the road.”
A unique opportunity to tour Israel
In addition to those two main goals, the competition has become a unique way to introduce Israel to students from schools affiliated with ORT.
“There are symbolic prizes awarded to the winners,” says Ganon. “For me, the big prize is that we give more than 100 people the possibility to see Israel and promote Zionism.”
International travel costs usually are subsidized by World ORT and the local communities. The Ukrainian and Russian teams were sponsored by software development company Luxoft, and alumni helped pay the way for the Kishinev school’s team.
The visitors board at World ORT-affiliated Kfar Hassidim Youth Village half an hour’s drive from Haifa, where the Technion is located.
One of the Moldovan students, a 16-year-old boy who also participated in Robotraffic last year, announced that he wants to make aliyah to Israel as soon as possible.
“For us, this is quite an achievement,” says Ganon, who adds that he looks forward to the day when every country with an ORT school sends a delegation to Robotraffic. The event is coordinated through World ORT headquarters in London.
Science Journey
Kadima Mada’s goals are to advance science and technology education, promote the use of advanced teaching technologies, strengthen the relationship between communities in Israel and the world, and improve the quality of educational services for hospitalized children in Israel.
The organization’s Science Journey program reaches students in 150 Israeli schools and 38 Israeli hospital-based schools.
One of its newest ventures was establishing five YOU-niversity afterschool innovation centers to provide Jewish and Arab children from Israel’s poorer periphery towns with a grounding in science and technology, in cooperation with the Ministry of Development of the Negev and the Galilee. Some of these kids participated in Robotraffic.
Ganon says the relationship with the Technion is a centerpiece of Kadima Mada’s activities.
“We’re very proud of the Technion partnership. We have several educational projects with them, and next year we will launch a huge scholarship program for [ORT] students from abroad and from Israel.”
Though robotics tends to be dominated by male students, an all-girl team from the Ohr Avner Jewish School in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine won first prize in the careful driving category for the second year in a row. Coincidentally, the competition took place on March 8, International Women’s Day.
Next year, Robotraffic will include two new categories – one with a jeep with a robotic arm and another using SolidWorks computer-aided design (CAD) software.