TEHRAN - The 8th Educational Robots Olympiad organized by Hushmad Afzar was held at the national level at Allameh Tabataba'i University sports center on Friday in Tehran.

Students from all three educational stages including primary school, junior high and high school, participated in the annual national competition from across Iran as well as the city of Herat, Afghanistan, to put their handmade robots to test.

In addition to students, another group titled Creative Minds, from all age groups and walks of life, took part in the competition to present their custom-built robots to the public and jury.

The competition was held in two segments: morning for higher and advanced level contestants i.e. pupils in secondary schools, and evening for lower level students in elementary schools.

A total of 250 teams registered to flex their muscles against rivals in various leagues including humanoid, carrier, warehouse, intelligent rescue, step climbing, and explorer robots as well as a rally of intelligent cars.

The Tehran Times spoke to the top prize winner in the humanoid league, Kiarash Lotfi, an 8th grader from Karaj who became interested in developing robots ever since he was in the second grade.

Humanoid robot is built to be a fighter able to perform several martial art moves.

Lotfi, who has already had over 100 creations in the robotic fields, is after making a robot placed in human body to treat gout. When asked why he was after such an invention, he responded, “My father suffers from it.”

Gout is a form of complex arthritis characterized by severe pain, redness, and tenderness in joints which mostly affects men.

Another very young contestant in the competition who spoke English with the daily paper was Shahrokh Ostadnejad.

The 9-year-old boy from the city of Yazd had made a rescue robot, capable of going up and down the hill to detect civilians in case of natural disasters.

Shahroukh hoped that one day soon, he’ll be able to develop a good-sized robot to save humans trapped in buildings and under rubbles in case a disaster strikes.

The event organizer will announce the names of the remaining top prize winners in two weeks’ time on its website at www.pishrobot.com, after the jury gets to thoroughly evaluate each team’s performance.

Hushmand Afzar is a company that arranges robotic competitions and fairs in order to evaluate the organizations conducting Hushmand Afzar's system.


Caption: The Tehran Times speaks to the top prize winner in the humanoid league, Kiarash Lotfi (R).