Enthusiasm, excitement and technology came together recently when over 75 students of the Barbados Junior Robotics Camp had the opportunity to showcase what they had learnt to an audience which included parents and sponsors of the camp.

The excited youngsters were able to showcase their newly designed and made robots which they produced during the 5-week camp held at the Cave Hill Campus of the UWI.

During the showcase, Professor Cardinal Warde, the Interim Executive Director of the Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) explained that this year’s camp was only the second since the pandemic and whereas there were 66 students enrolled before Covid 19 put a stop to the activity, when they resumed last year, only 58 were enrolled but he was very happy to announce that this year there were 75 active students in the programme.  

He explained that the campers engaged in fun activities as they worked on the team-based projects all of which were supervised by a number of coaches, many of whom are teaching or studying some form of science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).

At the ceremony, the sponsors spoke and in various ways encouraged the children to keep on building on the skills they learnt at the camp.   

Debra King, Director of Corporate Communications at CIBC Caribbean told them “It’s no secret that technology and innovation are the future of the world, and our region has been playing catch-up for too long.  Camps and training like what you have been through over the past few weeks are just the spark we need to ignite in you a fire to excel in this and develop the expertise we need to put the Caribbean region in the forefront of developing technological solutions that will drive the world.”

She added “For too long we have been consumers of technology – it is time for us to be the drivers and innovators. By using the knowledge you have gained here, furthering your studies and using that knowledge to create your own businesses, you can encourage the continuing use of home grown solutions not only in our region, but maybe even export your knowledge and intellectual property to the world.”

Following the speeches, the children brought their robots to the stage and presented scenarios that showcased the bots in a variety of ways.  From showing simple machines with motors and gears and sensors to bots that could navigate a sophisticated obstacle course, to custom built robots from components for the level 4 campers.

Some bots were able to fling objects in the air, others could stack blocks, while others acted like cranes and there was even a wireless robotic arm that interfaced with a wireless glove controller.

The Caribbean Science Foundation (CSF) is one of two organisations to which CIBC donated money on the occasion of the rebranding from CIBC FirstCaribbean to CIBC Caribbean. The other was the Field Medical Unit of the Barbados Defence Force.