ITER Robots

No two alike

More than 500 students took part in the latest ITER Robots challenge. Working from the same instructions and technical specifications, they had worked in teams over the school year to create and program Lego-based robots to perform dynamic tasks inspired by ITER remote handling challenges. On Tuesday 23 May, their efforts were put to the test ...

The 12th edition of the ITER Robots competition took place at the Léo Lagrange Stadium in Vitrolles, France, on 23 May. 500 students took part, cheered on by 100 teachers. Each team developed its own solution in response to the contest specifications and, as a result, no two robots were alike ...

The ITER Robots competition was originally conceived by Agence Iter France, with the participation of engineers from the ITER Organization and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). It is now supported by the French Ministry of Education.

 

For the 12th edition, participating teams had to take part in a three-prong challenge—not only demonstrate that their robots could successfully transport objects along pre-defined trajectories, grasp and release them, and respond to program modifications on the spot, but also develop presentation materials to explain the development of their designs, and answer questions in a "general culture" test to show familiarity with the ITER Project and some cultural knowledge about the ITER Members.

On the margins of the contest, companies specializing in artificial intelligence, engineering and robotics had set up stands with hands-on activities. The ITER Organization was also present with a mockup of the ITER machine and a game that turned students into fusion power plant operators in the year 2103. 

See some of the fun that was had in this video of the event on the ITER YouTube channel. A podcast featuring interviews with young ITER Robots competitors has also just been released on the ITER Podcast Page (also available in today's ITER Newsline).