ICS Robotics Team Wins Southern, Eastern Africa Championship

Congratulations to the ICS Robotics team, which won first place at the ISSEA STEM competition in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Competing against teams from eight other international school representing countries from southern and eastern Africa, the ICS team designed, built, and programmed robots to complete a series of tasks within a given map and time frame.

ISSEA leaders provided the teams with a fictional scenario two months prior to the competition related to their robot collecting and sequencing samples in the context of a pandemic outbreak. The ICS team trialled several different robot designs and algorithms which would allow them to complete certain tasks for points within a 2 minute window. They built a model of the competition course at ICS and brought their two best robots to Harare.

Grade 9 student Eyosiyas E. served as the team's leader.

"We came on Friday and Saturday in order to invest as much time as we could. During that time, with the guidance of our coach, Ato Luelseged, we worked on our robot and the task it was assigned to do. We were extremely happy when we won since our hard work paid off," Eyosiyas said. "In the beginning, our robot had a lot of flaws and errors, but as we put our time into it and practiced even more, we got to a level where our robot was almost flawless, which was a deciding factor in our win. I hope in the future our robotics team gets the ability to participate in worldwide competitions hosted every year in different countries to make sure ICS will be not only ISSEA robotics champions but also worldwide robotics champions."

For Coach Leulseged, the win was a big moment for the team as well as for the wider ICS robotics and STEM programs.

"I am very proud of what the students were able to accomplish at the robotics competition," Coach Leulseged said. "This team put in a lot of hard work beginning at the start of the school year, committing many of their Saturdays and lunch times to critical thinking, problem solving, and improving their technical expertise. Congratulations, Eagles!"

The Robotics challenge accounts for one-third of the ISSEA STEM competition, alongside the Science/Engineering and Mathematics competitions. The robotics team won first prize, and overall the ICS Eagles came home with a fourth place finish.

 To find out more about the extracurricular opportunities available to ICS students, visit our Experience page.