Day 8: World Robotic Olympic-Game Day 2

Well, the boys' luck has run out today. They didn't get any medals, however, neither was any of the teams assigned to Table A. What happened was that after the practice runs, the judge cleaned the table using the cleaning spray, and may have failed to wipe away the wetness right by the starting point for the robot. Almost all the robots on the table have slipped, and went crazy on the table! The only robot didn't slip was the Japanese one, since that robot was super slow, somehow survived the wetness. All the teams protested, and called the Head Judge over. He looked at the table and said it was fine. Of course by the time he got there, the spot was no longer wet.

The Olympic committee members had an emergency meeting and decided not to give the teams assigned to this table another run because one robot was ok, they didn't think it would be fair to them if we redo the match. We are all very disappointed about the decision but there was nothing we could do about it. 😢

The bright side of the incident is that the boys now have the chance to walk around and really check out the whole Olympic game, since there are other categories:

At the high school level, there are robot bowling and robot soccer matches. Then there is Open category. The kids from many countries brought their idea about recycling and environmental protection. The theme of this robot competition is Rap the Scraps. There are some really amazing displays here. One team's robot machine can convert used cooking oil to soaps; one team's robot machine can clean beaches automatically; the robot machine from Iran can go under water and clean the bottom of the ocean!

As the boys walking around and exchanging trinkets with other teams, some of the asked for photos. As I was getting ready to take the photo, kids from other countries would walk by, and I told them to get in, and then more walked by and joined in. Check out the photo which has kids from 7 or 8 countries! Ghana, China, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, South Korea, Japan, Nigeria, Malaysia and of course, USA!

Happy to say that our American Flag pins are very popular at the event. People would come and ask for them. The Syrian team are happy to see us today, and asked for photos with the boys. Evan gave them a huge handful of the American Flag pins! Iran team gave Evan and Kyran some nice chocolates, and happily took some photos with us.

Needless to say, this is the true highlight of the event. Meeting people from so many different countries, and making new friends!

What an amazing experience for us!Read more