Sciences
Robots that play football, deal with disaster scenarios or dance: self-made and programmed robots will compete against each other at the “RoboCupJunior Austrian Open” in Graz until Friday. Your “masters” are children and young people between the ages of ten and nineteen.
More than 60 teams are expected to participate in the exhibition hall, mainly from Austria, as well as Croatia, Hungary and Switzerland. Entry is free for children and adults.
Global Education Initiative
For the current “RoboCupJunior Austrian Open”, the Big Hall A at Messe Graz is the competition venue, where children and young people can qualify for the RobocupJunior European Championship in Hannover. RoboCupJunior is part of the global educational initiative RoboCup and aims to impart knowledge about robotics and artificial intelligence as well as other related fields such as mathematics or physics to young participants in a fun way, says Gerald Steinbauer Wagner from the Software Institute. Technology at TU Graz. He has been coordinating robotics activities for children and young people at Graz University of Technology for years.
“Football”, “Rescue”, and “On Stage”
Young participants spent at least a year repairing and programming small robots in RoboCup courses so they could carry out special tasks. On Thursday and Friday, the national champions will be crowned in the “Football and Rescue” and “On Stage” categories from their group.
In soccer, robots compete against each other individually on a small field. During a rescue operation, robots move autonomously through a simulated disaster area where they are supposed to find and rescue injured people. In the On Stage specialization, the focus is on creativity: students dress up in costumes and robots to perform together on stage – everything is allowed, from drawings to dancing to acrobatics.
Experiment stations
The host of the RoboCupJunior Austrian Open 2024 is TU Graz, which coordinates the annual competitions with FH Carinthia and FH Technikum Wien. Participants of the Graz event can qualify for the RoboCupJunior European Championship in Hannover. Visitors are waiting for a support program with experimental stations, and the Graz Aerospace Team presents its rocket that won the European Rocket Building Championship.
The RoboCupJuniorAustria Association was founded in 2015 and offers free half-day introductory workshops to schools where interested young people can get a taste of robotics and take those interested step by step through participating in friendly games and competitions.
