The 13th edition of the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) will be held in Mexico in 2024, and its national organizer, Jorge Hernández Huerta, emphasizes the importance of democratizing robotics and promoting STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics) education among children. He stresses the significance of encouraging the participation of girls and young people in these disciplines to address existing gender disparities.
In its 13th edition, the WRO aims to increase the involvement of girls and adolescents, as their participation in previous Olympiads has been only at 30 percent. The goal is to nurture talent from childhood through the appropriate spaces and tools, empowering them early on and offering them opportunities for future vocational training.
Hernández Huerta highlighted the importance of providing children with experiences in various fields, as this exposure can lay the foundation for their future career choices. The WRO aligns with Mexico’s mission to introduce children to robotics and other technology-related fields from a young age. Over the past 12 years, Mexico has made significant strides in introducing children as young as five years old to robotics and STEAM education.
The WRO is a thematic competition that offers various categories for teams of children and young people aged 8 to 19 to apply their knowledge to real-world challenges using STEAM and robotics. The competition’s theme changes yearly; this year focuses on “Allies of the Earth.” Teams of two or three participants will design, build, and program a robot model capable of completing challenges aligned with the competition’s theme. Registration information, rules, and details can be found on the WRO website. The tournament will have qualifying rounds between May and July before culminating in a national final in September followed by an international final in Turkey in November.