ABU DHABI // UAE schools excelled at the regional round of an international robot-building competition in Qatar last week.
Two schools won first place in their categories and another came second at the World Robot Olympiad Arabia, which took place in Doha on Saturday.
Abdulla Hamad Al Kuwaiti, Mohammed Abdullah Al Blooshi and Khaled Mohammed Al Ali from Al Tamayouz School in Al Ain took first place in the middle school-regular category.
Omar Osama Abdel Rahman, Muhammad Daniesh Syahiran and Ahmed Khaled Al Hadrami from the International Jubilee Private School also won first prize in the elementary school-regular category.
In the same category, Shahd Al Morshidi, Shamsa Al Naqbi and Sultan Naqbi from the Khorfakan Child Centre took second place.
Three hundred teams from public and private schools across the UAE were vying for a chance to compete at WRO-Arabia. Through competitions, the teams were whittled down to 18 who travelled to Doha to represent the UAE.
The UAE teams competed against 300 school children from across the Mena region.
Dr Najlaa Al Naqbi, the programme manager at Abu Dhabi Education Council's office of strategic affairs, said Adec launched the Arab robot project after the WRO advisory council nominated them as part of the committee that runs WRO competitions.
She said she was extremely happy with the performance of UAE schools, particularly considering how new the field of robotics was in the UAE. She said she hoped the wins would help motivate UAE pupils to achieve even more victories at the international competition, which is being held next month in Malaysia.
