High School Students' Eco-Friendly Robots Compete

The winners of the Robotics Competition themed 'Eco-Friendly Ecological Projects,' organized to encourage students in science education, develop them in these fields and enable them to produce innovative projects, have been announced.

Students showcased their talents in robotics in the Robotics Competition themed 'Eco-Friendly Ecological Projects,' held within the scope of the Science Festival in collaboration between Bahçeşehir University and Private Saint Benoit French High School. İzmir Private Tevfik Fikret High School won first place with the project 'Weeder for organic and sustainable agriculture,' Saint Pulcherie French High School came second with the project '8 Continents,' Private Saint Benoit French High School came third with the project 'Growbox,' and Istanbul Private Notre Dame de Sion French High School came fourth with the project 'Domotic house.'

"WE MADE A PROJECT THAT SUPPORTS ORGANIC FARMING"

Simge Kuyucu, an 11th-grade student at İzmir Private Tevfik Fikret High School and one of the two owners of the first-prize project "Weeder for organic and sustainable agriculture," described how their project came about: "Today, pesticides, that is, agricultural chemicals, are used excessively and unconsciously. My friend and I came across a documentary on this subject. From the documentary, we learned how harmful pesticides are to both the environment and human health. So we decided to build a machine that reduces pesticide use. In this way, we also wanted to support organic farming." Stating that she was interested in ecology even before applying to the competition, Kuyucu concluded: "But I was not very interested in computer programming. For this project, I had to learn a programming language and how to program, and I can say that this was a plus the competition gave me."

SUMMER SCHOOL GIFT FOR WINNING STUDENTS

Stating that they supported the event with the idea of organizing a project competition, Assist. Prof. Dr. Berke Gür, faculty member of Mechatronics Engineering at the Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, said: "We exchanged ideas on this. We guided students on the topics of the projects and how to work on them. Apart from that, we also contributed to how the evaluation would be done, how the work would be carried out and the organization of the event." Also stating that they would host the winning students at Bahçeşehir University in the summer as part of a summer school, Gür said that in this school they would provide students with hands-on training on new trends in robotics and the fundamentals of robotics.

"OUR AIM IS TO ENABLE THE PRODUCTION OF ROBOTS THAT BENEFIT THE ENVIRONMENT"

Stating that they organized a robotics festival for the first time this year, Tamar Sefer, Vice Principal for 12th Grades at Private Saint Benoit French High School, said: "We asked students to produce robots that are respectful of and beneficial to the environment and that collect plastic and foreign materials. They tried to build energy-related robots that both meet these criteria and can benefit the ecosystem."