The official launch of AfrikaBot 2016 “the world’s most affordable robotics competition” will be held on 3 October 2015 10h00 to 16h00 at Zwartkops Raceway near Centurion, Pretoria.

This event will be open to the public, and all high school, college and university undergraduates are invited to attend this prestigious event where they will be able to learn more about how to build an AfrikaBot entry in a series of presentations and workshops.

Members of the public will get the opportunity to program one of 30 robots built by UJ TechnoLab trainees in the past few years, and try their hand at programming them through the AfrikaBot competition maze using easy graphical software at one of 10 workstations.

The first AfrikaBot challenge will be held in October 2016, exact dates will be confirmed closer to the time.

Pre-launch information:

The rules for this exciting new competition are currently being finalised, but this page has been made available as a guideline to help you if you are an early starter to begin preparing your robot.

UJ TechnoLab invites all school learners, undergraduates, postgraduate students from all univeristies and international teams to consider entering AfrikaBot competition.

It is our hope that this competition will grow rapidly in the next few years, to become South Africa’s most important (and most affordable) robotics competition for teenagers who want to build their own robots from scratch using electronic parts and a soldering iron.

This competition is open to ordinary members of the public, scholars and students according to the categories below.

DRAFT RULES for AFRIKABOT 2016:

The winning robot will drive itself autonomously through a maze, without touching the walls, in the fastest time. To enter the AfrikaBot challenge the robot must use rechargeable batteries and must as a minimum requirement have driving wheels made from recycled lids (peanut butter bottle lids for example) and will fit into a 5L plastic box as per the example in the image below.

Parts/sub-assemblies made on a 3D printer will be permitted in AfrikaBot robots, but may constitute no more than 50% of a drive wheel assembly which must incorporate a recycled lid from a tin or bottle.

TROPHIES WILL BE AWARDED IN THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

SCHOOLS:
GRADE 7, GRADE 8, GRADE 9, GRADE 10, GRADE 11, GRADE 12

UNIVERSITIES:
Undergraduate, postgraduate

GENERAL AWARDS:

MOST AFFORDABLE ROBOT, MOST ‘RECYCLED’ ROBOT, MOST INNOVATIVE ROBOT, INNOVATIVE PROGRAM, ADULT/PARENT

Decisions of the judges will be final, no correspondence will be entered into. Awards will only be made in a category where there are at least 3 entries.

PERMITTED HARDWARE:

P1X8, PARALLAX BASIC STAMP, ARDUINO, RASPBERRY Pi, LEGO, MICROCHIP, UNITRONICS, LOGO, ZX81, Z80, 8080, 8086, INTEL, CELLPHONES, SMARTPHONES, PICAXE, ATMEL, etc.

PERMITTED LANGUAGES and SOFTWARE

BASIC, C, JAVA, PYTHON, SCRATCH, PBASIC, ROS, LOGO, WINDOWS, APPLE iOS, UNIX, LINUX, ANDROID, etc.

DATES and VENUE:

The launch of AfrikaBot 2016 will take place 3 October 2015 at Zwartkops Raceway. Final rules and scoring system and training will be available at the launch of AfrikaBot 2016.