Collegiate-level competition in Robotics

National Instruments and World Robot Olympiad (WRO) announced a collegiate-level competition to inspire innovation among students around the world. The pilot for the competition will take place at this year’s WRO world championship held in Jakarta, Indonesia from November 15 to 17. Since the robotics competition was founded in 2004, it has used NI technology via LEGO^® MINDSTORMS^® and now opens a new level of competition to give students an advanced programming option using the same software as professional engineers in virtually every industry. 

LEGO Mindstorms

“NI shares our belief that the best way to inspire students to pursue careers in science and engineering is to encourage them with fun, hands-on experiences,” said Johnson Jan, WRO Chairman of the Board. “The new collegiate-level competition at WRO engages students using real-world robotics platforms powered by LabVIEW to teach engineering fundamentals and creative problem solving skills.” 

NI, a WRO sponsor, worked with the organisation to develop an advanced pilot competition based on NI LabVIEW system design software for students age 17 and up. The Mars Colony-themed competition is a pilot in 2013 and becomes an official part of the global competition in 2014, when it opens to all WRO member countries. Approximately 100 collegiate-level teams participated in this pilot and teams from 15 countries will advance to the final competition in Jakarta. This collaboration builds on the previous NI partnership with WRO. In 2012, NI was a global sponsor of WRO and supported regional teams and events in Costa Rica, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria and Singapore.