19 UAE teams compete at robot olympiad 

(MENAFN - Khaleej Times) Nineteen elementary and high school teams from the UAE, who emerged from a field of 300, have begun competing in the World Robot Olympiad in Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur.

The three-day event, which started on November 9 is the culmination of a year-long competition involving more than 35 countries and 20,000 teams from across the world. It follows on from last year's highly successful event, which was hosted in Abu Dhabi by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec).

The UAE qualifying teams were selected to take part in the finals from 300 public and private school teams, who all competed in the WRO, UAE National Robotics Challenge.

Participants were expected to progress through a number of qualifying stages before they were selected to participate in the WRO final, including competing in the second WRO Arabia in Doha.

"By supporting the UAE teams to attend the ninth WRO competition in Malaysia, Adec would like to provide the students with an authentic and unique experience emphasising collaboration, exchange of information and experiences from their peers across the world during the competition.

"Additionally, these types of international competitions help provide students with inspirational opportunities to display their skills and knowledge in front of the world," said Dr Najla Al Naqbi, programme manager of the Office of Planning and Strategic Affairs at Adec.

This year's theme is 'Robots Connecting People - Let's bring social robots to life'.