Romanian Times | August 2022

ROMANIANTIMES Actualitate 15 Romanian team wins 1 st place for the second time in a USA International Robotics Championship The AutoVortex Romanian robotics team won 1st place at the International Robotics Championship in the United States, in Utah. The competition is directed at teams of high-schoolers, who build a robot, program it, and then place it in the ring to compete against the others. In the ring, the robots have to complete a set of tasks in a certain amount of time.The teamthat earns the highest amount of pointswins.The aimof the competition is that teenagers learn about robotics andAI while having fun. The highschool students on theAutoVortex teamare:Andrei IanisMidache, TheodorAdrian Vasile, Radu Gabriel Dăscălescu, Maria Ioana Dicu, Adrian Florin Hănțăscu, Elena Maria Vasile, and Răzvan IacobMilea. The team is coached by Valentin Ionuț Panea, a finance teacher from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE), andmentored byAnaAndreea Lipianu, a student at the Politehnica University of Bucharest. Romania’sAutoVortex Robotics Team have previously won several awards: they took first place at last year’s International Robotics Championship in Chicago, which marked the first time since1989 that a teamfromoutside theUnitedStateswon1st place in thechampionship, 1st at the International Robotics Championship in Libya, which took place earlier this year, in Tripoli, and again 1st place at the International Robotics Championship in Jamaica. Coach Valentin Panea spoke to News.ro about the road to victory: “This is the third robot variant. The first variant we used in Libya at the beginning of the year, wherewemanaged to take 1st place.We had tomove very quickly for that competition, and the robot we ended up with was not exactly the model we wanted. After that we went to Jamaica with the second version of the robot, again we won 1st place, but the robot was quite heavy, it broke down often and there wasn’t much pleasure in competing with it. After that, we built a smaller robot - much more compact, much more agile.We managed to program it from scratch. For the last month and a half, we were working in the Politehnica hub day and night. Sursa: romania-insider.com / 01.08.2022 Last year we were the first team in the world, wemanaged towin first place in Chicago, and we didn’t want to fare any worse this year, so we worked hard for this competition. At first, when we arrived, theAmerican kids didn’t think we stood a chance - when you see a small robot, you’re not afraid of it - but we ended up beating all of them.” Othermembersof theteamsharedwhat theylikedbestaboutparticipatinginthiscompetition: Ana Lipianu, team mentor: “My favorite moment in the competition was when another team wanted an extra match. They really wanted to play us and we managed to score 304 points together. It was a very nice moment because that team idolized us somewhat – they still wanted to play with us, even though they had lost to us.” Ioana Dicu: “My favorite part of the competition was the first day when the kids from the other teams came to make friends with us. We exchanged experiences and they invited us to play some games with them. I thought it was very nice of them. The atmosphere at the competition was extremely pleasant, and we had fun.” MileaRăzvan Iacob: “I really liked that, besides the competition, the organizers also organized some courseswherewe could learnnewways of programming - robots canbe programmed in several programming languages, andwe got to see how they approach the subject. I also liked the fact that the team we played in the final already knew everything about us beforewe’d even put the robot on the field. They hadwatched our previousmatches. I didn’t think they would be interested in Romanian teams.” Unfortunately, as has been the case with every other competition the AutoVortex team has participated in, the costs associated with participation in the event (such as transport and accommodation)were covered exclusively by the parents and private companies sponsoring the team. The Romanian Government may enjoy the international recognition brought by the children’s feats and makes sure to offer their congratulations for each win, but offers no financial support. “This departure, I can honestly tell you, was the most expensive per person in all our 11 years. The biggest shock came from the problems with the airports and airfare. We did our best to be able to participate, wemanaged to gather some partners, but part of the funds were still covered by the parents,” Panea told News.ro He explained further that while the field of Robotics “is currently recognized as a school discipline, and an Olympiad, the Romanian state cannot help us at the moment. We are a teamwith children from several high schools, sowe do not belong directly to an educational unit, nor are we attached to a town hall or a local council. Unfortunately, we always have to find ways to support ourselves”. maia@romania-insider.ro / (Photo source:AutoVortex’s Facebook page) România a câștigat o medalie de aur, două de argint și una de bronz la Olimpiada Internațională de Informatică 2022, în Indonezia Locul 2 pe numărul de medalii al tuturor țărilor, obținute până acum Elevii români care au participat la Olimpiada Internațională de Informatică 2022, organizată în Indonezia, au obținut o medalie de aur, două de argint și una de bronz conform rezultatelor anunțate duminică, 14 august, de profesorul Marius Nicoli, în exclusivitate pentru EduPedu.ro. “Am urcat pe locul doi pe clasamentul numărului de medalii obținut de toate țările până acum”, spune cadrul didactic despre această performanță.Rezultatele celor patru liceeni “confirmă eforturile depuse de membrii comunității noastre în acești ani grei de pandemie și ne încarcă puternic pentru mai departe”, mai declară Marius Nicoli, profesor de informatică la Colegiul Național “Frații Buzești” din Craiova și care a însoțit lotul României în țara asiatică alături de Andrei Constantinescu, fost olimpic și student la Institutul Federal Elvețian de Tehnologie (ETH) din Zürich. Sursa: edupedu.ro / 14.08.2022 Elevii români participanți și rezultatele lor: - Alexandru Luchianov de la Liceul Teoretic Internațional de Informatică București – medalie de aur - Luca Perju-Verzotti de la Colegiul Național de Informatică “Tudor Vianu” București – medalie de argint - Alexandru-Raul Todoran de la Liceul Teoretic “Aurel Vlaicu” Orăștie – medalie de argint - Andrei-Robert Ion de la Liceul Teoretic Internațional de Informatică București – medalie de bronz. Olimpiada Internațională de Informatică 2022 s-a desfășurat în format hibrid. Cele mai multe țări au participat în format fizic, dar sunt și state precum România (Alexandru Luchianov a participat de acasă), Cuba, Ungaria, Slovacia și Regatul Unit care au avut și elevi participanți de acasă, potrivit site-ului oficial al Olimpiadei. Țări precumAustralia, China, Croația au participat exclusiv online. Peste 350 de olimpici au avut de rezolvat câte trei probleme timp de cinci ore în fiecare din cele două zile de concurs, se mai arată pe același site. Subiectele sunt elaborate din timp de către comitetul internațional pe baza propunerilor făcutede regulăde către foști olimpici internaționali din toată lumea. IOI esteocompetiție cu reguli precise de organizare, indiferent de locul în care se desfășoară, iar subiectele au păstrat linia anilor trecuți. Problemele propuse spre rezolvare s-au ridicat la înălțime, atât prin inovativitate, cât și prin rigoarea cu care au fost alcătuite și pregătite, consideră Marius Nicoli.