Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences | Prof. Dr Oliver Locker-Grütjen, President | Marie-Curie-Straße 1 | 47533 Kleve | Telephone: +49 2821 806 73 - 0 | Fax: +49 2821 80673 - 160 Friedrich-Heinrich-Allee 25 | 47475 Kamp-Lintfort | Telephone: +49 2842 908 25 - 0 Email: info(at)hochschule-rhein-waal.de or studienberatung(at)hochschule-rhein-waal.de
Whilst all the teams kept their cool as they tackled their tasks during the three rounds, a palpable sense of tension was evident amongst all the participants as the prize-giving ceremony drew near. After all, everyone had been keeping a close eye on the scores and was eagerly awaiting the final result. “Do you think we’ll manage it again?”, “Have we scored enough points to go through?” were the questions the teams were asking themselves. Once second and third place had been announced, it didn’t take long for the GasdonkRobos to break into cheers.
But it wasn’t just the participating teams who demonstrated their talent and knowledge in Geldern. To ensure everything was conducted fairly and properly, pupils from the Technical Gymnasium for Engineering Sciences at the vocational college volunteered to act as referees.
Tasks relating to sustainable energy management
A total of seven teams of pupils gathered on 5 May 2023 in the sports hall of Geldern Vocational College in the district of Kleve for one of the 20 regional rounds of the 2023 zdi robotics competition. The two top-placed teams, GaesdonkRobos and Krabbentechniker, qualified for one of the eight regional rounds. At the regional competition, which took place on 19 May in Neuss, they then competed against the winning teams from the other local competitions for a place in the North Rhine-Westphalia final on 17 June in Mülheim/Ruhr.
GaesdonkRobos came fifth out of a total of 12 teams at the regional competition. The teams tackled a series of challenges centred on sustainable energy management. This involved solving tasks symbolically laid out on a game mat. For example, on the zdi playing mat, they had to install wind turbines, add a rotor assembly to a wind turbine, or dismantle an oil-fired heating system.
These are the rankings of the participating teams at Geldern Vocational College in the district of Kleve:
Background information
zdi.NRW stands for ‘Zukunft durch Innovation.NRW’ (Future through Innovation.NRW) and, with over 5,000 partnerships with stakeholders from the fields of science, business, education, politics and society, is Europe’s largest network for promoting young talent in STEM subjects. zdi programmes are available across the board in all districts and independent cities in North Rhine-Westphalia. Over the past 15 years, zdi.NRW has reached over 2 million young people. Over 70 school laboratories offer children and young people spaces to experience STEM, pursue their enthusiasm for STEM and find out about STEM training and degree programmes. The courses and programmes offered by zdi.NRW also contribute to the dissemination of current scientific findings from universities. zdi.NRW is co-ordinated by the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. State-wide partners include the Ministries of Schools and Education and of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as the NRW Regional Directorate of the Federal Employment Agency.
