The International School of Macao (TIS) unveiled a new Robotics Lab on its campus in Cotai on Monday, during which students showcased robots and the process of designing, programming and engineering them.
The robotics lab was converted from one of the school’s science labs and features a new purpose-built robotics arena as opposed to only makeshift ones in the past, Head of School Lorne Schmidt told The Macau Post Daily on Monday after the lab’s opening ceremony.
According to Schmidt, a dedicated lab can encourage more student interest in robotics, for which the school started a programme around six to seven years ago that enabled TIS students to compete in international competitions, before the contests were affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the school can get back to entering the competitions. With a resurgence of teams, Schmidt noted that he can only see interest in robotics growing, which may also be passed on to younger students.
“The younger students will get to see what the older students are doing and become interested, so we want to start bringing them in at a young age” to allow them to start learning the necessary skills and how to programme as well as build robots, Schmidt said.
Talking about skills that students can pick up, Schmidt added: “The skills that they’re learning are transferable, they’re not unique to robotics”, noting that problem-solving skills and creativity are only some of the things that can be transferred to many different industries and disciplines.
Soaring interest
Meanwhile, computer science and robotics teacher Robert Flower told The Macau Post Daily that interest in the school’s robotics programmes, which shrank during the pandemic, soared after the lab was built, now having over 40 students. Around 80 percent, he said, are new to robotics.
“It’s brought a lot of interest from students who aren’t in the robotics club, but they’re in the classroom because they also get to use the same materials”, Flower said, noting that those who aren’t learning to compete are still gaining knowledge about the engineering process, coding and getting to build a robot. “It’s just really good to see students evolve through these hands-on activities”.
Flower also mentioned the importance of grit, or “the ability to fail forwards”*, for students to succeed in robotics. “All of these students have been building robots for three months and they still don’t have a final robot. They are constantly tearing it apart and trying new ideas cos they find one little thing and say ‘how can I do it better’”, an idea that a lot of students nowadays can benefit from, he said.
Constantly seeing students build, work on and come up with great ideas, Flower pointed out that innovation is something that he sees daily.
*Failing forward refers to the acceptance of failure as a stepping stone to future success. – Source: The Knowledge
TIS students provide a demonstration in the robotics lab’s arena on Monday. – Photo: Rui Pastorin
