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May 11, 2022In June 2021, WASSLZ joined forces with Jordan River Foundation and UNICEF and launched the Sumo Robot for Future Innovators initiative, in cooperation with Zain Innovation Campus and the Ministry of Youth, with the aim of reaching the Kingdom’s diverse youth and inspiriting it to become innovators of technology rather than merely users of it.
Sumo Robot for Future Innovators
The initiative targeted 12 – 18 years old from all of Jordan’s governorates and encouraged the country’s marginalized portion of youth to participate.
It comprised of a competition where teams designed and built Sumo robots that competed in different challenges, revolved around pushing the opponent out of the ring for a monetary prize. To succeed, it was important that the Sumo robot was powerful and had a good perception of its surroundings.
The first phase was offering Arduino kits to participants and training courses, online and offline, to learn how to build a robot from scratch. The training taught the basics of robotic programming using Arduino.
At the end of the training courses, many participants were selected to compete in the national competition. They were selected based on their competence as well as commitment during the training period.
The second phase was allowing the participants the innovative freedom to design and determine what components and sensors they needed for their Sumo robots to win. There were some specifications in place to ensure everyone got an equal opportunity and chance. To our surprise, this phase became a community effort rather than the participant’s alone. Some worked with carpenters, others with small local electronic shops. While others collaborated with their teachers from schools. Building and designing the robot increased cash flow within small communities and strengthened the team spirit.
The third and last phase was the national competition. Participants were split into groups as per their location and followed the method of a Round-robin tournament so that 18 final participants were reached. Those 18 were then invited to an event where they competed against each other in front of a team of judges until 3 qualified for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.
Sumo Robot for Future Innovators training courses and competition became a nationwide success. The initiative received over 700 applicants. and of those, 293 participants were selected. They were selected based on a criteria that gave more weight to females and refugees among other considerations. That resulted in the selection of 178 females and 115 males from all of Jordan’s governorates, regardless of their ethnicity or economic background. The feedback from participants, teachers, organizers and anyone who was involved in the initiative was overwhelmingly positive. The youth felt equipped and inspired to create its own high-tech gadgets, while teachers and organizers felt proud to be part of fostering this inspiration and arming the youth for the future.
Because of that, Jordan River Foundation, UNICEF and WASSLZ decided to make the Sumo Robot for Future Innovators initiative a reoccurring event to reach even more of the youth and create a positive impact on a larger number of local communities.
