The Second LegoStart Competition as a Powerful Platform for Lovers of LEGO Education

The best start for students taking the first steps in the LEGO world is the LegoStart robotics competition, which was held for the second time, this year. If in 2021, 11 teams participated in the competition, in 2022, 29 teams from Shirak, Lori, Syunik, Kotayk, Tavush marzes and the capital Yerevan submitted applications for the participation in four age groups. The teams competed in the WeDo, elementary, junior and senior age groups. This year, the mission of our robot lovers was to make the pandemic situation more manageable and help scientists. Tatev Adamyan, head of contests department at the Ayb Educational Foundation, noted that this year, the large number of participating teams and the growing interest in the competition are not only due to Ayb's consistent policy of providing novice teams with LEGO sets but also to the reassessment and higher prioritazation of the role of robotics in Armenia in the post-war situation. According to the competition’s participants, the most attractive thing in robotics is the opportunity to apply your knowledge, whether in mathematics, physics or informatics, in real life; that’s why students participated in the LegoStart competition for the second year in a row.

As a result of intense battles in three rounds, Yerevan’s Whiz Aesculapius was recognized as the best team in the WeDo age group, and Nor Hachn’s Robotics took the second place. Gyumri’s GDL and Nor Hachn’s Best Trio showed best results in the elementary and junior age groups. Sona Koshetsyan, director of the Ayb Educational Foundation, congratulated the teams during the awards ceremony following the competition. She attached importance to the activation of LEGO education in the marzes through LegoStart, as well as to formation of an active and strong robotics community thanks to the work of team coaches, contest participants, and the jury. Sona Koshetsyan also highlighted that as part of the competition, children design and use scientist robots, which inspires them to be engaged in science in the future. LegoStart is a good opportunity for the teams to develop robotics skills and later participate in the World Robot Olympiad international competition, whose official representative and organizer in Armenia is the Ayb Educational Foundation.

This year again, the Creative Education Technologies, the Foundation’s loyal partner and technical supporter, stood by the side of the LegoStart competition. The competition’s sponsors were strategic partner Zigzag and partner Dobriy.