On September 16-18, 2016 Minsk Palace of Children and Youth has hosted RoboFest, the first Belarusian outdoor robotics festival.
Representatives of the leading educational institutions and robotics clubs of the Republic of Belarus, as well as guests from different regions of the Russian Federation have attended the Festival.
Leonid Lozner, co-founder of EPAM Systems, and Mikhsail A. Zhuravkov, Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus, have greeted the participants with welcome speeches. The distinguished speakers have noted that the development of robotics ensures building up an efficient knowledge economy and enhances economic prosperity.
The interactive exhibition held in the Palace lobby has featured the achievements in robotics and information technologies presented by the participants. The BNTU has presented 3D printers designed and manufactured at the BNTU S&T Park "Polytechnik", a computer simulator demonstrating the operation of a machine restoring bridge crossing, and 3D modeling potential of the BNTU Mechanical Engineering Faculty. 3D modeling master class was most interesting. Dmitry Trifankov, student at the BNTU Mechanical Engineering Faculty, has helped the visitors to create 3D models later printed out on 3D printers.
RoboFest has had a large competition program. The teachers of our University have been honored to become referees in lego robotic competition.
Roborace, a competition of mobile robots, has resulted quite successful for Maksim Massalsky (BNTU Mechanical Engineering Faculty), who has got the 2nd prize.
In the framework of the educational program of the festival, Maksim has held a master class on developing robotic kits. These robotic kits served the basis for holding "CodeWheels" for the first time in Belarus. Contrary to "Roborace", where each participant operates his own mobile robot, in "CodeWheels" all competitors get identical ones. To win the competition, the participants have to write the most successful software code, considering the specific characteristics of a certain route.
RoboFest has made an effective platform for presenting the participants’ achievements and sharing best practices. Over the past two years, the BNTU has already participated in five large scale national and international events in the field of robotics and IT (including RoboFest). Given that professional level and the number of participants in such events is steadily growing, only high interest and productive involvement can ensure success and credibility among colleagues. At the same time, the applications of robotics are so diverse that even a beginner can find their field and achieve meaningful results.
The next major event in robotics for the BNTU representatives will be the trip to Robotex – 2016, a robotics competition to be held in Tallinn Technical University (Estonia) in December.
Mikhail Zhuravkov, Minister of Education of the Republic of Belarus, standing near the BNTU stands
Visitors studying 3D printing
Competition zone
Young teachers of Mechanical Engineering Faculty as referees of lego robotic competition
Robots developed by Maksim Massalsky for CodeWheels