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World Robot Olympiad

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World Robot Olympiad
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event Smart Cities (WRO 2019, Hungary)
FormerlyInternational Robot Olympiad
SportRobotics-related games
Founded1999
First season2004
MottoTo bring together young people all over the world to develop their creativity, design & problem solving skills through challenging & educational robot competitions and activities
No. of teams26.280 (2018)
CountriesSee below
Venue(s)See Below
Most titlesUnknown (possibly Taiwan, Malaysia or Thailand)
QualificationBy winning the national/state competition
Related
competitions
Official websitehttps://wro-association.org

The World Robot Olympiad (WRO) is a global robotics competition for young people. The World Robot Olympiad competition uses Lego Mindstorms manufactured by LEGO Education.[1] First held in 2004 in Singapore, it now attracts more than 26,000 teams from more than 65 countries.[2]

The competition consists of 4 different categories, Regular, College, Open and Soccer[3] and for the Regular and Open categories, it consists of three different age groups: Elementary, Junior High and Senior High. Participants below the age of 13 are considered as Elementary, participants from ages 13 until 16 years old are considered Junior High and participants between 17 and 19 are considered Senior High. Participants can also compete outside their age group, but they must be younger than the specified age range and must partner up with someone in that age range. For example, a 12-year-old participant can join the Junior High sub-category only if teamed up with someone between 14 and 16.

History

WRO was formally established in 2003, with the first international WRO final being organized in 2004. Organizations from China, Japan, Singapore and Korea are considered the founding countries. In 2004 teams from China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore and Thailand took part in the first international final, held in Singapore.

In 2003 the four founding countries established the international WRO Committee (now known as the WRO Advisory Council), which decided to establish a new and permanent robotics organisation, based on the idea that students from all over the world should have the opportunity to meet with other students to fulfil the new mission statement:

"To bring together young people all over the world to develop their creativity, design & problem solving skills through challenging & educational robot competitions and activities"

The WRO Committee decided on the new name World Robot Olympiad, and new WRO logos were developed.

Finally the WRO Statutes and a set of General Rules were worked out to ensure a sound and safe future for WRO. One of the major decisions, which appears in the Statutes, was that the international WRO event should be hosted by a new country each year and the WRO Committee should elect a chairman.

In 2017, the host country of WRO was Costa Rica. This was the first time the competition was held outside the Asia Region and the first time it came to the Americas.

WRO Categories

At WRO, challenging competitions are offered for everyone in the age from 6 – 25. WRO have four competition categories, with their own characteristics and challenges:

  • Regular Category
  • Open Category
  • WRO Football
  • Advanced Robotics Challenge

Each season the challenges and theme for the Regular and Open Category are developed with the country that hosts the International Final. The WRO Football rules and the Advanced Robotics Challenge game are designed together with experts in the robotic sciences community.[4]

Overview of all WRO Categories

Regular Open Football Advanced
Age Elementary: < 13

Junior: 13-15 Senior: 16-19

Elementary: < 13

Junior: 13-15 Senior: 16-19

10-19 17-25
Hardware Only LEGO + HiTechnic Color Sensor LEGO controlled + no restriction for other materials Only LEGO + HiTechnic equipment for ball and sensors Only MATRIX and TETRIX + only NI myRIO or KNR (myRIO based) controllers (in 2017 also EV3) + any brand motors, sensors and batteries
Software Elementary and Junior: only RoboLab, NXT or EV3 Senior: free choice Free choice Only RoboLab, NXT or EV3 software NI LabVIEW or any text-based language (like C, C++, Java etc.)
Maximum size Max. 25 x 25 x 25 cm Booth of 2 × 2 × 2 meters Two robots, max. 22 cm diameter, max. 22 cm high and <= 1 kg each Max. 45 x 45 x 45 cm
Characteristics Surprise Rule and assembly of the robot on competition day It is so open that you can enjoy your creativity! Assembly of the robot on the competition day Basix game is football, small modifications in rules each year. Same challenge for two years.
At WRO since 2004 2004 2010 2015

Regular Category

The Game Table of the WRO2012 Junior High division.

Teams must create a robot which can complete a specified mission determined by the organiser and usually based on the Open Category theme. Before the competition begins, the robot must be fully dismantled: for example, the batteries must be taken out of the brick or the tyres must be taken out from the wheels. It must be built in a specified time (150 minutes) before the first qualification round begins. If a team finishes building their robot before the 150 minutes finish, the team can practice on the competition fields. Each robot is restricted to be 25 × 25 × 25 cm (9.8 × 9.8 × 9.8 in) before the round begins, and may consist of only LEGO certified parts, with specified motors and sensors depending on each competition. It must finish the mission autonomously, within a maximum time of two minutes. Teams are judged on their scores. If two teams' scores are equal, they are judged by their time to the nearest millisecond.[5]

Regular Category characteristics

  • Three age groups: Elementary (up to 13y), Junior (13-15y) and Senior (16-19y.)
  • Hardware: The controller, motors and sensors used to assemble robots must be from LEGO MINDSTORMS sets (NXT or EV3). The HiTechnic Color Sensor is the only third-party element that can be added to this configuration. Only LEGO branded elements may be used to construct the remaining parts of the robot.
  • Software: The use of programming software depends on the age group:
    • For Elementary and Junior age group only LEGO RoboLab, NXT and EV3 software are allowed.
    • For Senior age group, any software and any firmware can be run on NXT / EV3 controllers.
  • Maximum robot size: 25 cm x 25 cm x 25 cm.
  • Surprise Rule: A surprise rule will be announced when the competition starts, to test the team's ability to adapt their hardware or programming. (Note: some member countries have a slightly different approach to the surprise rule.)
  • Assembly: The teams bring their robot completely disassembled. In the first part of the competition they will have 150 minutes to assemble their robots from loose parts without instructions.
  • Team: A team consists of 1 coach and 2 or 3 team members.

Open Category

A robot built for the Open Category.

The Open Category is a project based competition. Students create their own intelligent robotics solution relating to the current theme of the season. Teams will present their project and their robot model to a group of judges on the competition day.[6]

Open Category characteristics

  • Three age groups: Elementary (up to 13y), Junior (13-15y) and Senior (16-19y.)
  • Hardware: The robot model must be controlled by a LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT or EV3 brick, but there no further restriction on the balance between LEGO and other elements.
  • Software: Free choice of programming language / software.
  • Maximum size: Teams present the idea in a 2m x 2m x 2m booth on the competition day.
  • Team: A team consists of 1 coach and 2 or 3 team members.

WRO Football

With WRO Football is introduced a fun and exciting game with teams of two autonomous robots playing football (soccer). Every year little changes are introduced for the game to motivate the students to keep on developing their robots.[7]

WRO Football characteristics

  • One age group: 10–19 years old.
  • Hardware: Teams need two robots to participate in WRO Football. The controller, motors and sensors used to assemble robots must be from LEGO MINDSTORMS sets (NXT or EV3). Only LEGO branded elements may be used to construct the remaining parts of the robot. In addition, teams will need the HiTechnic infrared ball and can use the HiTechnic infrared and compass sensors.
  • Software: Only LEGO RoboLab, NXT and EV3 software are allowed.
  • Maximum robot size: Each robot must fit inside an upright 22 cm diameter and 22 cm high cylinder and must not weigh more than 1 kg.
  • Assembly: The teams bring their robot completely disassembled. In the first part of the competition they will have 120 minutes to assemble their robots from loose parts without instructions.
  • Team: A team consists of 1 coach and 2 or 3 team members.
Here is where the football teams played for the first place of the World Robot Olympiad at Costa Rica 2017
Football Competition at World Robot Olympiad Costa Rica 2017

Advanced Robot Challenge (University/College)

The Advanced Robotics Challenge (ARC) is the newest category. The games are designed to test older and more experienced student's engineering and programming skills to the limit.[8]

Teams compete on a set challenge. Robots may be pre-built and may use certain TETRIX and MATRIX elements. Teams may use either one MyRIO or KNR controller, or two EV3/NXT controllers; there are no restrictions on choice and number of sensors, motors and servos. The size of the robot before it begins must be within 45 × 45 × 45 cm (17.7 × 17.7 × 17.7 in). The maximum time differs depending on each competition.

In 2015 and 2016 it ran a Bowling game and in the 2017 season it was introduced the Tetrastack challenge.

Advanced Robotics Challenge characteristics

  • One age group: 17–25 years old.
  • Hardware: Robots must be built using MATRIX and TETRIX building systems only. There are no restrictions about the use and brand of sensors, batteries or electrical motors and servos.
  • Controllers: Only National Instruments myRIO or KNR (myRIO based). Note: 2017 is the last year that LEGO EV3 controllers can be used.
  • Software: Control software must be written in LabVIEW from National Instruments or any text-based language like C, C++, C#, RobotC, Java or Python.
  • Maximum robot size: 45 cm x 45 cm x 45 cm.
  • Team: A team consists of 1 coach and 2 or 3 team members.

Changes to the Gameplay

As the missions of the Regular, WRO Football and College Category get tougher and more teams in the Open Category are willing to present more creative-looking robots, organisers have to make changes to the list of eligible sensors, motors and bricks to be used in the competition. Initially only RCX bricks, motors and sensors were allowed. In the 2007 competition NXT bricks, motors and sensors were allowed as well. In 2011 the NXT colour sensor was added; in 2012, the HiTechnic colour sensor. In 2013 an EV3 robot was exhibited that used all four motors. In 2014, however, EV3 bricks, motors and sensors were allowed, but the number of motor ports was limited to three, and the EV3 Gyro sensor was not allowed. The 2015 competition allowed four motor ports and the gyro sensor, but not RCX bricks, motors, or sensors.

There are also a few changes to the number of categories. The earlier versions of this competition, before 2006, consists of only Regular and Open and that further sub-divides to only two age groups, Primary and High School.

Age Group Definitions

Compete with peers

WRO have the ambition of being relevant to students of different ages. That is why it is offer competitions on platforms that provide fun and challenging experiences.

It is also why it have decided two of the categories into three age groups. In the Regular Category, each age group has a different mission. In the Open Category, the challenge is the same for all participants, but they are judged within their age group.[9]

Please note:

The mentioned ages reflect the age of the participant in the year of the competition, not at the competition day. For participation in the international WRO final it is strictly enforced that students cannot, at any time in the year of the competition, be older than specified in the age group definitions. Example: A participant that is still 12 years old at the time of the international WRO final in November, but turns 13 years old in December the same year cannot participate in Elementary Category.

Age groups Regular Category

Elementary Participants maximum 13 years old in the year of competition.
Junior Participants 13 – 15 years old in the year of competition.
Senior Participants 16 – 19 years old in the year of competition.

Age groups Open Category

Elementary Participants maximum 13 years old in the year of competition.
Junior Participants 13 – 15 years old in the year of competition.
Senior Participants 16 – 19 years old in the year of competition.

Age group WRO Football

Participants 10 – 19 years old in the year of competition.

Age group Advanced Robotics Challenge (ARC)

High School or Undergraduate students 17 – 25 years old in the year of competition.

Table of Eligibility (TOE)

Qualification for the international final

Only teams that participated in a national competition in the warudo one of our member countries can qualify for the international final. The WRO Table of Eligibility (TOE) defines how many teams a WRO National Organizer can register for the international final.

  • The number of teams a National Organizer may send to the international final depends on the number of teams in the national competition.
  • Each competition category has its own TOE.
  • A country has to have minimum 5 teams in a competition category to register teams for the international WRO final for that category.
  • A team may participate in only one competition; Regular Category, Open Category, WRO Football or Advanced Robotics Challenge.
  • Any student may participate in one team only.
  • The numbers in the tables are maximum per age group and category and cannot be transferred from one age group or category to another. National Organizers may register fewer teams than allowed, but never more.
  • In Regular category, if a country does not compete in a certain age group, it is not allowed to swap teams around. (For example: If you have 5–99 teams and you don't compete in Senior age group, it is not allowed to bring 1 Elementary and 2 Junior teams.)

Qualification Regular Category

Teams at national level Entries in Elementary Entries in Junior Entries in Senior
5–99 1 1 1
100–299 2 2 2
300–599 3 3 3
600+ 4 4 4

Qualification Open Category

Teams at national level Entries
5–39 2
40–149 3
150+ 4

Qualification Football Category

Teams at national level Entries
5–39 1
40–149 2
150+ 3

Qualification ARC

Teams at national level Entries
5–19 1
20–39 2
40+ 3

Hosts

WRO2007 in Taiwan
Year Host city Host venue Competition Theme National Organiser Description of Regular Category challenges Notes
2004 SingaporeSingapore Downtown East Pasir Ris Robots in Sports Science Centre
2005 Thailand Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok Science Center Sensitive robots Gammaco
2006 China Nanning, China Humanoid Semia
2007 Taiwan Taipei, Taiwan National Taiwan University Robot for Rescue
2008 Japan Yokohama, Japan Pacifico Yokohama Saving the Global Environment
2009 South Korea Pohang, South Korea Postech Artistic Robots For the elementary category, the robot has to shoot a ping-pong ball into an allocated cup. For the Junior High category, the robot must collect 100 ping-pong balls and bring it back to the base. For Senior High, the robot place coloured balls into a compartment depending on its colour.
2010 Philippines Manila, Philippines SMX Convention Center Robots promote tourism Felta Multimedia
2011 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre Robots for life improvement Abu Dhabi Education Council ADEC For elementary, the robot has to solve a labyrinth while taking three ping-pong balls along the way. For Junior High, the robot has to climb a flight of stairs while trying carrying an egg. For Senior High, the robot has to place lego blocks into a certain area depending its size and colour.
2012 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Sunway Pyramid Convention Center Robot Connecting People Sasbadi Sdn Bhd In the elementary category, the robot has to disposed a number of ping-pong balls depending on the colour of a square cell that it is on. In the junior High category, the robot has to move a series of cylinder over hurdles before sorting them out based on their colours. In Senior high, robots have to pick up a hollow brick and slot in on a coloured pole of the same colour.
2013 Indonesia Jakarta, Indonesia Ecovention Hall World Heritage Mikroskil/Mikrobot For Elementary, the robot has to sort out batik cubes by colour in a pattern. For Junior high, robots have to restore Borobudur by removing the stupas from 4 different relic statues and determine which one is broken (it is different as for having no minifigures placed on the statue and black in colour) which it has to bring to the finishing area. For Senior High, the robot has to pick up eggs of a Komodo Dragon (represented by a red ball) and leave the other eggs alone (represented by a blue ball).
2014 Russia Sochi, Russia Sochi Main Media Centre Robots And Space Association of Children's Goods Industry Enterprises For Elementary, robots have to build a rocket with the colours of the Russian Flag (In order, white, blue and red). For Junior High, the robot has to pick up space debris (bricks) and failed satellites (balls (both red) and leave the working satellites (blue balls). For Senior High, the robot must activate solar panels (blue and red in colour) and replace the solar panels which are not working (red) with the good ones).
2015 Qatar Doha, Qatar Al Shaqab Robot Explorers For elementary, robots must push nine cubes and dispose a number of ping-pong balls depending on the cubes' colour. For Junior High, the robot must first scan a colour key to determine a location of an artefact (blocks) before it leading to one other artefact. There are five artefacts in total but there are some artefacts which the robot can't pick up. For senior high, the robots must place a block on top of a mountain depending on the mountain and the block's colour.
2016 India New Delhi, India India Expo Center Rap the Scrap India STEM Foundation WRO India 2016 will engage students to Rap (talk) about waste – an important social issue. Students are expected to come up with innovative solutions using robotics technology to Rap the Scrap i.e. to reduce, manage and recycle waste!
2017 Costa Rica San José, Costa Rica Parque Viva Sustainabots: Robots for sustainability Aprender Haciendo S.A Sustainabots are designed to care for the planet, the people and themselves. A Sustainabot is developed to change our world without affecting it, integrating the 3 pillars of Sustainability: Environmental, Social and Economical.The main themes are Sustainable Tourisms, Carbon Neutrality and Renewable and Clean Energy. The creation of sustainable robots can help us to have sustainable regions all around the world. They can help reach the Sustainable Development Goals.
2018 Thailand Chiang Mai, Thailand Food Matters Thailand will be the first country to host WRO twice.
2019 Hungary Győr, Hungary Smart Cities
2020 CanadaQuebec, Canada Climate Squad The event is cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The first time a WRO event has been cancelled.
2021 GermanyDortmund, Germany

Countries participating

Previous host countries are italicised while future host countries are bolded. Countries which are both previous and future hosts will have an asterisks (*).

Country First joined Organiser Notes
Armenia Armenia 2014 Ayb Educational Foundation Competition Website
Australia Australia 2011 RoboCup Junior Australia
Bahrain Bahrain 2011 AMA International School
Belarus Belarus 2014 School of Robotics
Bolivia Bolivia 2009 Centro de Tecnologia Aplicada
Brazil Brazil 2014 AMEducação
Brunei Brunei 2012 STEP Centre, Ministry of Education
Canada Canada 2014 Robotique Zone 01 Robotics
Chile Chile 2019 Fundacion Redes Creativas Website
China China 2004 Semia
Taiwan Taiwan / Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei 2004 ESUN Robot Association in Taiwan Both Chinese Taipei and Taiwan are used in this Olympiad although the name Chinese Taipei is officially used by the WRO committee. Both Chinese Taipei and Taiwanese flags are used during the competition but the Chinese Taipei flag is officially used.
Costa Rica Costa Rica 2009 Aprender Haciendo Costa Rica S.A.
Denmark Denmark 2006 Dept. of Computer Science at Aarhus University / DITEK Was previously organised by FIRST Scandinavia along with Sweden and Norway
Egypt Egypt 2007 Searag
Germany Germany 2009 Technik Begeistert e.V. Competition Website
Ghana Ghana 2012 Ghana Robotics Academy Foundation
Greece Greece 2009 Knowledge Research SA
Hungary Hungary 2015 Edutus College
Honduras Honduras 2017 Honduras STEM Foundation
Hong Kong Hong Kong 2004 Semia Organised by the Organiser of China as Hong Kong is part of China
India India 2004 India STEM Foundation (ISF) Competition Website
Indonesia Indonesia 2004 Mikroskil/Mikrobot
Iran Iran 2006 Global Brand Toys
Japan Japan 2004 Afrel
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan 2014 AEO "Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools" in partnership with Ministry of Education and Science Competition Website
Kuwait Kuwait 2011 MILSET Regional office for Asia
Lebanon Lebanon 2009 Raymond Education
Malaysia Malaysia 2004 Sasbadi
Mexico Mexico 2012 Fundación Care and Share for Education, A.C. / Edacom www.wro.org.mx [1]
Mongolia Mongolia 2011 MIND STORM
NepalNepal 2018 STEM Foundation Nepal www.stemnepal.org [2]
NetherlandsNetherlands 2018 Stichting WRO Nederland www.wro-nederland.nl
Nicaragua Nicaragua 2017 COMTECH Competition Website
Nigeria Nigeria 2011 ARC Lights Limited
Norway Norway 2006 FIRST Scandinavia Despite having an organiser, Norway sent no teams to compete.
OmanOman 2010 Edutech Middle East
State of Palestine Palestine 2015
Panama Panama 2015
Peru Peru 2009 IEP W. von Braun SRL
Philippines Philippines 2004 Felta Multimedia
Qatar Qatar 2007 College of the North Atlantic
Romania Romania 2013 Knowledge Research
Russia Russia 2004 Innopolis University
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 2008 Royal Commission Robot Club
South Africa South Africa 2009 Hands on Technologies
South Korea South Korea 2004 Advanced Learning Co. Ltd
Singapore Singapore 2004 Science Centre Singapore Hosted the first Olympiad
Spain Spain 2013 Fundació educaBOT
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka 2004 See below.
Sweden Sweden 2007 FIRST Scandinavia Stopped competing by 2009
Switzerland Switzerland 2013 IngCH – Engineers Shape Our Future
Syria Syria 2011 Syrian Computer Society SCS
Thailand Thailand* 2004 Gammaco Thailand will be the first country to host the Olympiad twice.
Tunisia Tunisia 2014 IEEE Tunisia section Competition Website
Turkey Turkey 2015 Bilim Kahramanları Derneği
Ukraine Ukraine 2009 Prolego
United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 2006 Abu Dhabi Education Council
United States United States of America 2014 Lawrence Technological University Competition Website
Vietnam Vietnam 2013

Winners

2018

Regular Category

Age Group Gold Silver Bronze
Elementary Malaysia Thailand Thailand
Junior Malaysia Taiwan India
Senior Taiwan Thailand Thailand

Open Category

Age Group Gold Silver Bronze
Elementary Singapore Philippines Russia
Junior Singapore Romania Syria
Senior Russia Germany USA

Football Category

Gold Silver Bronze
Taiwan Taiwan Russia

Advanced Robotics Challenge (ARC) Category

Gold Silver Bronze
Thailand Hungary Japan

Previous Years

Host Country/Year
Costa Rica 2017 India 2016 Qatar 2015 Russia 2014 Indonesia 2013
Categories Regular Category Regular Elementary   India Little Robot   India HL3-B   India Storm Divers   Indonesia NH- IICS   India
  Russia HyberBeam   Malaysia HL3-A   India Thunder Divers   Malaysia Pearl of the Orient   Russia
  Russia Argo   Vietnam Viet Robot 01   Taiwan Taiwan Legend   Russia Yastreb   Taiwan
Regular Junior   Russia AXIOM   Russia Tehnopark MPL   Russia Dzeta   Malaysia SAKTI PEGASUS   Indonesia
  Malaysia SMK CHUNG HUA MIRI 1   India High Voltage   Taiwan TAIWAN Ba-Soulburn Ho Jia   Thailand Kun Na Tam / YEN-KERN-HED   Japan
  Taiwan LUCKY   China Putian Zhuoying Middle School   Mexico RoboTecnia Versus   Taiwan Happy Horse   Indonesia
Regular Senior   Russia Liga Robotov-Binom   Japan YTHS ORANGE V   Taiwan TAIWAN YES   Thailand AUD-ARD   Malaysia
  Malaysia SMK CHUNG HUA MIRI 2   Egypt Egypt 1   Japan robotics X   Thailand Chakkham 4   Indonesia
  Taiwan TW.elite   Syria Baymax NCD   Japan Ninja   Taiwan Future Engineering   Malaysia
Open Category Open Elementary Malaysia Thailand Malaysia   Malaysia The Innovative Explorers
Open Junior Russia Russia Malaysia   Japan Astro Boys
Open Senior Russia Malaysia Russia   Hong Kong Ultimate Upon great fire the book- heroic one
Football Category Football Taiwan Taiwan Malaysia Thailand SG-1
Advanced Robotics Challenge ARC Thailand Taiwan Taiwan Taiwan N.M.C

Sponsors

References

  1. ^ "WRO-Robotic Solution". Retrieved March 7, 2011.
  2. ^ "About WRO". Archived from the original on May 13, 2009. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
  3. ^ "Students compete in international Robot Olympiad". Taipei Times. November 18, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
  4. ^ "Overview". World Robot Olympiad Association. July 22, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  5. ^ "Regular Category". World Robot Olympiad Association. July 22, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  6. ^ "Open Category". World Robot Olympiad Association. July 22, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  7. ^ "Football Category". World Robot Olympiad Association. July 22, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  8. ^ "Advanced Robotics Challenge". World Robot Olympiad Association. July 22, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  9. ^ "Regulations". World Robot Olympiad Association. August 16, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
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