Ecuadorian students win gold medals at robotics olympiad in Guayaquil

Students from the Unidad Educativa Crear Online and Liceo Los Delfines won top prizes at the International Robotics Olympiad (IRO) in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

The competition saw a 76% increase in participants compared to the previous year, with more than 220 students from 16 private schools competing in various technical and creative categories. Valeska Parra and sisters Danna and Melissa Naranjo won the senior category for Creative Film.

The team had four hours to build a robot, program it, and film a scene based on a traditional legend. They chose the legend of the Dama Tapada and used an Arduino microcontroller and an ultrasonic sensor to create a moving doll. They filmed the scene with a smartphone and edited the video using a free mobile application. Bruno Ricaurte and Jean Mauro De León won the junior category for Creative Film.

The 10-year-old Ricaurte and his teammate built a robot to portray the legend of Cantuña. They spent four days preparing the project, which included creating a storyboard and hand-drawing a set. Joseph Montúfar also won first place in the Physical-Digital Systems Design category. The 10-year-old boy worked alone to build an interactive museum project that allows users to collect dinosaur bones. Nabih Pico, the competition coordinator, noted that while participation is growing, the event currently only includes private schools.

He stated that the competition aims to develop critical thinking and communication skills, not just technical programming. While some winners qualified for the international final in Vienna, Austria, in 2027, several students said they cannot attend due to the high costs of travel and visas.