As part of Ryszard Bil’s Technology Mid-Year Review, our participants enthusiastically followed the students’ presentation. Technological progress never ceases at HENSOLDT, so robotics is also becoming increasingly important for us. As a pioneer of technologies and innovations in the field of defence and security electronics, we feel that it is more and more our duty to support technically-oriented schools and universities. “It is important for HENSOLDT to invest in the future and to support young people,” said Ryszard Bil, Chief Technology Officer. There is a great need for qualified specialists in STEM subjects – STEM is the abbreviation for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. HENSOLDT also wants to support pupils in awakening their interest in technical apprenticeships. This was why we sponsored the students of the Ernst Abbe School in their participation in the world final in the field of robotics. Due to the great interest in robotics, Dr Guy Kouemou, Technology Manager of the CTO Organisation, in cooperation with Nora Urban, Project Manager in the Communications Department, invited the students to present their robot to the staff.
In the previous year, the German EAGles team from the Ernst Abbe School, consisting of Thomas Haag, Kevin Haag, Nandor Czismadia and Lucas Weigand, built and programmed a robot. Through concentration, eagerness, skill and tactics, they successfully won first place in the German final. And then they set off to the world final in Detroit. “It was only thanks to the enthusiastic support of our teacher Sonja Fick, that this all became possible,” emphasised Thomas Haag.
At the world final of the First Tech Challenge, the EAGles were able to compete with the world’s best teams. After the four days of the competition in April this year, the team was in the midfield of more than 120 teams. The aim was to develop a robot that had to solve a wide variety of tasks independently and remotely. As an agenda item at Ryszard Bil’s Technology Mid-Year Review, Kevin and Thomas Haag demonstrated all of their robot’s functions and skills.
In a 3 x 3 meters playing field, dice had to be sorted into shelves. In the competition, this had to be done within two minutes. Three other robots had to do the same task in parallel. Extra points were awarded if the robot used a gripper arm to place an object on a field outside the playing field. In the final, it was about parking the robot in a blue triangle. “Teamwork is also a top priority in this competition, both within one’s own group and in alliances with other previously unknown teams,” said Kevin Haag during the presentation to the HENSOLDT participants. In a total of nine games, as many points as possible had to be earned in alliances with another team compared to an opposing alliance.
For more information about the competition: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc
