Robotics Olympics Favorite: These Swiss kids make the world’s best Lego robots

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Once you get there, there’s nothing in the Aargau neighborhood to suggest that there’s any kind of hope hidden for the future of Swiss robotics. In Buchs AG, a suburb of Aarau, houses and villas dating from the turn of the century to the 1900s alternate with apartment blocks from the last few decades. In such a block there is a bike cellar and a little-used common room or hobby room behind the garage. Quirin Meier and Mael Strasser (both 16) welcome us there with their coach Beat Michel (70).

What is happening in this extraordinary area goes far beyond a provincial neighborhood near Aarau. For example, up to Panama. Quirin and Mael won the World Robotics Olympiad here last year in the senior age group. They are currently preparing to defend their title in Izmir next November. Numerous teams from more than 100 countries compete in three age groups in the annual international competition. Last year Quirin and Mael won against almost 90 teams in the senior age group.

Complex tasks with obstacles and time pressure

Every year, the competition commission of the World Robotics Olympiad Association sets the task of creating and programming a robot so that it can solve complex tasks in a certain area for a limited time. For this purpose, all participants are given the same set of Lego Mindstorms pieces at the beginning of the year. Participants need to build their robots from these. An area called a playground, which is a printed plastic mat on which the actions to be programmed must be carried out by a specially made robot. And finally, the mission. The organizers of the competition set an additional task on the same playing field to ensure that young people code themselves and not just submit the work of a helping adult. This task, like the field of robotics in general, is an interdisciplinary subject between programming, systems analysis, strategy and engineering.

Quirin and Mael know each other from kindergarten. Meanwhile, they lost sight of each other. But then they found themselves in an Aargau financing program. This is where his coach Beat Michel comes into play. The now-retired special education teacher specialized in supporting gifted children years ago. The three of them came together as part of one such project he manages called “Talanteria”, where Windisch AG promotes talented people. Michel provides the exercise room and is happy to continue doing so even after retirement: “It keeps my brain sharp and gets me away from home, although my wife would probably like to go camping with me a little more often!”

Silent criticism of Switzerland

This disadvantage for Michel’s wife is the happiness of Mael and Quirin. “Without him and Talentria, we would never have made progress in this direction,” says Mael. The fact that it requires support and a little luck (or, instead, a lot of self-motivation) is reflected in the duo’s careers so far: Neither comes from a family that would specifically support them in engineering, mathematics or robotics. “My father is a wood technician and currently works in IT, and my mother is a special education teacher,” says Mael. “My parents own a metal construction business,” adds Quirin. He owes the discovery of Mael’s mathematical talent and the ability to acquire new learning content in arithmetic at an early age to his dedicated primary school teacher. Because Mael’s school in the small village of Scherz had a small number of students, the school taught small classes and thus had the time and leisure necessary to recognize his talent and send him into gifted development projects at an early age. Quirin, from the neighboring Habsburg village, was not so lucky. He had to put in the effort himself: “I actively looked for robotics financing simply because I was interested, and that’s how I came across Talentria.” At this point, Mael quietly criticizes Switzerland: “Unfortunately, there is very little support for talented people in Switzerland, and recognition and promotion of a talent is often a matter of luck. “Asian countries are far ahead of us in this regard.”

There is now a permeable division of labor between the two. “I do more, but sometimes I also program,” says Quirin. “We do the systems analysis and strategy together,” says Mael, who does most of the programming. Both are blessed with analytical abilities: When asked about their favorite subject in school, both respond straight out of the box: “Math!” most. Surprisingly, the topic of programming is less popular; perhaps because the two of them had already learned so much. In any case, says Mael: “I don’t even know how I taught myself to program; it just happened completely organically in an interesting way.” By the way, the subject of hatred is the same for both: “Franz!”

It is a great chance that the international language is English. Most of the time, the task set by the competition committee is related to the host country. In the case of Panama, where the Panama Canal connects the Atlantic to the Pacific along 82 kilometers of waterway, the issue was shipping and port logistics. A computer was required to load various loads onto the playing field and then unload them again at other locations. In other words, a task that prepares participants for real tasks in robotics. What sounds so simple is an extremely complex matter: additional tasks such as planning routes in an optimized way, placing obstacles and turning a barrier or some kind of switch also need to be completed as quickly as possible.

Quirin and Mael demonstrate the process, which is still working perfectly. So your Lego robot efficiently races around the playground, quickly throws boxes on its back, docks next to ships, pushes them, unloads boxes and turns several switches at the same time. A type of mechanized, movement-optimized dance; It is not devoid of charm either.

When the passion for Lego is over

Quirin and Mael explain in detail what the problems are; Last year’s playground is still set up on the table. Both agree: the real problem lies in the components that need to be used, the hardware, so to speak. Quirin says Lego Mindstorms pieces (when assembled and programmed) behave “pretty cumbersome and imprecise.” In general, they consumed the material slowly – their limitations bother them.

The new mission they are currently working on cannot be filmed or photographed; Two robotic talents rightly fear imitators if some of their previous work for the Olympics to be held in Turkey this year is made public. The aim is to develop a robot that cleans rubble and collects houses in the region where earthquakes occur frequently.

It is not yet clear whether the two extraordinary talents will study robotics in the future. Quirin doesn’t know yet that Mael is leaning more towards software development. At the moment they are mainly looking forward to defending their title this year and taking part in the “Future Innovators” category at the 2025 Olympics: here there is no longer any need for material requirements and Quirin and Mael are looking forward to materials such as: sensors, gripping arms or other hardware and mechanisms, choose yourself or Develop now.

More information about Quirin Meier and Mael Strasser at robolution.ch

Source : Blick