MakeX is a robotics competition platform that promotes multidisciplinary learning within the fields of science and technology. It aims at building a world where STEAM education is highly appreciated and where young people are passionate about innovation by engaging them in exciting Robotics Competition, STEAM Carnival, etc.
“2021 MakeX Robotics Competition North American Open” has been successfully held in Nov 21st, 2021, at Clinton G. Martin Park, Nassau County, NY.
This competition was hosted by Youth Coding Innovation Club (ycic.club), and co-host by CAANH (Chinese American Associates North Hempstead) and New York Life Insurance (manager Lily Wang), with sponsor from Michigan Youth Empowerment Foundation, The big hope (Dallas, Texas), BOC insurance brokerage.
Due to the concern of COVID19, all the spectators and parents has been asked to reserve the timeslot online, so the total number of person inside the building at the same time can be limited, with more social distance, and everyone was asked to wear face mask.
The competition includes two levels, Challenge (ages 12 to 18 years old) and Starter (ages 7 to 13). The theme of MakeX Starter in 2021 is “Smart Transportation”, and the theme of Challenge is “Master of Intelligent Manufacturing”. , The competition is divided into two parts: automatic control phase and manual control phase. Players need to use Makeblock robots to complete the designated tasks within four minutes, combine sensors, metal parts, etc., and finally complete the competition solution by programming to get the competition score.
More than 30 students from the greater New York area participated in this MAKEX competition. It is particularly worth mentioning that many girls also participated in the competition, and several of them are all-girls and have also achieved good results.
After a day of intense competition, in the end two league teams in each level won the championship. The Starter level champions are NeverGonnaGiveYouUp (coach Chuyu Liu, players Eric Liu, Jason Lu) and TBPrime (coach Chang Duan, players Tony Xu, Ben Duan) , Challenge-level champion teams are The Innovators (coach David Huang, players Samuel Huang, Ariel Huang, Eason Chiu, Griffin Chiu, Aaron Chu) and TriTech (coach Hong Chen, players Bianca Chu, Yeewan Melody Chen, Lily Huang). They At the same time, they have also been qualified to represent the United States in the 2022 MakeX Robotics Challenge Global Finals, and have also been invited to the World Youth Robotics Invitational. Congratulations to them for their great achievement.
David Peng, head of YCIC (competition organizer), said that allowing children to be exposed to STEAM training and competitions from an early age can develop their intellectual potential, improve their hands-on ability, enhance creative thinking, and exercise their ability to deal with setbacks and teamwork to solve problems. The robot itself is a complex that combines computer software programming, electronic components and mechanical components. The robot competition requires team cooperation to find problems together and propose solutions to problems. It can not only cultivate artificial intelligence for the future world, but also The underlying capabilities of many technologies such as the Internet of Things can also explore and cultivate team communication and collaboration and necessary leadership skills for children. We hope that through this activity, we can cultivate children’s interests and abilities in these aspects from an early age, and prepare them to become leaders in the future technological world.
Lily Wang, manager of the co-organizer, New York Life Insurance, reviewed her experience of accompanying her daughter to participate in robot competitions. As a representative of New York Life, which has a century-old foundation, she is very happy to support this high-level youth robot competition and wish the children a smooth competition.
David Chiang, director of the co-organizer CAANH(Chinese Ameican Association of North Hempstead), encouraged participating students to focus on participation, not afraid of setbacks, and looking to the future. Peter An, director of CCLI, said that he has always dreamed of being a scientist and hopes that children can open mind and prepare for the future.
New York State Assemblywoman Gina Sillitti came to congratulate and presented the citations to all the participate students. She said that this is the first time she has watched a robot competition on the spot. Technology represents the future, and youth science and technology education is future-oriented education. It is great to see more and more teenagers actively participating in science and technology activities including robots.
Andy Wang, the chief referee of the competition, also a guest referee for the MakeX Spark global online tournament in 2020, said that robotic activities are one of the few activities that can cultivate all-round capabilities and are future-oriented. He was very happy to see more and more girls are involved into STEM especially robot activities, and he was delighted to see many girls actively participate in volunteer referees as well.
Many parents who come onsite are very excited to inquire about the details of this competition, and hope to have the opportunity to participate in the future. There are also many Indian and Hispanic parents to learn about, and hope to introduce to their own communities.
After five months of hard work, under the difficult environment of COVID19, YCIC turned the MakeX Robot Competition North American Open from an idea into a reality, through promotion of team formation, offline introduction, ordering of competition equipment, summer camp, referee training, and volunteers recruitment, stage preparation, venue survey, cooperation with partners, sponsor implementation, media promotion, site decoration, insurance transportation, catering and other dozens of tasks, MakeX North American Open committee members David Peng, Andy Wang, Sue Huang , Carol Chen spent great deal of efforts, and finally ensure the complete success of the event.
It is expected that in 2022, more communities and different ethnic groups will participate together to jointly promote the vigorous development of the MakeX robot competition in the United States.
The original post was posted at Nov 24th, 2021
The link of original post: https://medium.com/@youthinnolab/2021-makex-robot-competition-north-american-open-ended-successfully-cefcb60875b5