The island country of Mauritius is usually known for its tourists, coconuts and the beautiful shoreline. It’s usually a country that everyone expects go to when they wanna get away from the buzz of the industrial life. 

But, thanks to Kidobotikz and the concerted efforts of the Mauritius Research Council, the island of Mauritius and its residents had their first taste of robotics education. Building upon the experience of the last year when Kidobotikz was part of the EdTech Expo at Mauritius, The Mauritius Research Council, a wing belonging to the Government of Mauritius, intended to introduce the students of mauritius to the cutting edge field of robotics and electronics.

The Culmination

Coming to know about the path breaking efforts of Kidobotikz in the field of STEAM education, the Mauritius Research Council (MRC) invited Kidobotikz to conduct a robotics workshop for the students of Mauritius to introduce them to the burgeoning field of robotics.

The event, which was named Mauritius Robofest, was held from 17th to the 21st of April, 2017. MRC organized the Robot Festival where 400+ students were given a live hands-on experience with the Kidobotikz Kits and were engaged in robotics workshops.

The Event Format

The 5-day tour was structured in such a way that the enthusiasts who had signed up for the event were imparted of knowledge of robotics in the first three days and used their knowledge of robotics to take part in the robotics games that were conducted on the final two days. The workshops were held at Port Louis and Rose Hills, Ebene, Mauritius.

The workshops were designed in such a way that the students received a full rounded understanding of the concepts. The workshops were of two types. The Circuit Building Workshop was based on Kidobotikz’ “Foundation” Kit and gave the learners a practical understanding of various electronic components such as real time sensors, switches,etc. They were also introduced to concepts of circuit building and circuit debugging techniques. The Robot Programming Workshop which was based on the “Advance” Kit and helped learners familiarise with the concepts of autonomy and maneuvering robots based on real time sensor inputs. This helped students learn how to build a brain on their robots.

The Robofest

After all the learning through the workshop, the students used their robots and took part in the Robot Festival on the 21st of April. Several interesting games such as The Tesla Challenge, Maze Runner and e-Novate were conducted and offered a unique experience to the visitors.

The Tesla Challenge was a contest where participants demonstrated concepts like Auto Pilot, similar to the one on Tesla Cars, by building robotic models incorporating these features. 

Maze Runner was an interesting game that involved participants programming a robot to use its sensors to meander through a maze laden with obstacles.

The more interesting event was e-Novate which called for innovators from all streams to display their innovations and projects which were doused with creativity.

The Grand Finale was “Grand” on all counts. The event was a runaway hit. It saw a participation that was humongous to say the least! Close to 400 participants took part in the event and it was a phenomenal success.

As were there so many contests, so were there that many winners ! 

The Prize Distribution

The prize distribution ceremony was a spectacle in itself. The Chief Guests who presided over the ceremony were Dr. A Suddhoo, Executive Director, Mauritius Research Council; Mr. Yogida Sawmynaden, The Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Govt of Mauritius; The Hon’ble Mrs. Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, Minister of Education and Human Resources, Tertiary Education and Scientific Research. Mrs. LD Dookun-Luchoomun delivered a keynote address to the participants of the Mauritius Robofest and she was appreciative of the efforts of Kidobotikz in packing such an important course in a fun and engaging workshop format.

The event ended on a great note with the Mauritius Research Council presenting Team Kidobotikz with a memento on behalf of the Govt. of Mauritius 

Kidobotikz is a leading EdTech startup offering Robotics Courses for students. Moving from a Robotics training Institute which conducted Robotics classes to a “Learn Robotics Online”, Kidobotikz today has 4 levels of Kits which offer Robotics for Kids. If the question on your mind is “How to learn robotics”, then the answer is Kidobotikz.