VEX Robotics Turkey Championship: 120 Teams Vie for World Stage in Istanbul
Istanbul, March 1 – The VEX Robotics Turkey Championship, one of the world’s largest robotics organizations, has officially begun in Istanbul. Organized by the New Turkey Education Foundation (YETEV), the event brings together 120 teams from all corners of Turkey, all competing for the coveted right to represent their nation at the VEX Robotics World Championship (VEX Worlds) in the United States.
Speaking at the opening program, Yusuf Tüfekçi, General Manager of YETEV Schools, emphasized the foundation’s vision for the younger generation. “We want to raise our youth not just as those who read the future, but as those who shape it. This is our aim, this is our goal. In the past, our grandmothers used to say, ‘Don’t invent trouble for me.’ Now, we tell our children, ‘Please invent for us, work hard,'” he stated.
A National Technology Initiative
The championship aligns with Turkey’s “National Technology Initiative” vision, aiming to foster young individuals who can produce, question, and design technology. The competition is divided into two categories: high school (VEX V5) and elementary/middle school (VEX IQ). The 120 teams, who have previously excelled in regional tournaments, will demonstrate their proficiency in mechanical design, autonomous software development, and strategic planning.
To inspire the students, the competition stands have been named after prominent scientists. More than 3,500 students and mentors are expected to participate, bringing their meticulously crafted robots to the arena.
Aspiring Engineers Headed for the USA
The teams that achieve top rankings and receive awards will earn the right to represent Turkey at the VEX Robotics World Championship in St. Louis, USA. This event, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest robotics tournament globally, will host the Turkish champions. The VEX Robotics Turkey Championship is being held at the Istanbul Sinan Erdem Sports Hall until March 1st.
Yusuf Tüfekçi further elaborated on the significance of the event, stating, “Today, we have approximately 120 teams here, teams from all over Turkey. We expect over 3,000 to 3,500 participants including families and teachers. The world is moving towards technology and artificial intelligence. Therefore, we want them to catch this speed. In fact, we want them to surpass this speed. We want to raise our youth not just as those who read the future, but as those who shape it. This is our aim, this is our goal.”
He also referenced Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar, whose name, among others, adorns the competition platforms. “Aziz Sancar says: ‘Without effort, without endeavor, there is no success.’ A lot of effort and hard work is required. I tell our children today; all our students, all 120 teams participating here… In fact, there are no losers here. Because these children work for years, months, even years, meticulously crafting that robot. They add new things every day, develop it, and bring new visions. Therefore, yes, this is a competition, and there will be first, second, and third place winners. However, ultimately, they will represent us in the World Championship in America. We will be proud of them. But in the end, three will emerge, and those three will represent our country in America. I hope we can produce a world champion there,” Tüfekçi added.
Aiming for World Championship
İrfan Özdemir, Co-founder of Vex Robotics Turkey and Educat Robotics, highlighted the global impact of VEX Robotics. “Vex Robotics is actually a global brand. It is a robotics organization that carries out its activities in many leading countries around the world. As Vex Robotics Turkey, we are the entity that manages Vex’s operations in Turkey. Within this scope, many competitions and events are organized by Vex for kindergarten, primary school, middle school, and high school levels. We are the Vex Turkey team that organizes these events, provides international mentor training to our teachers who want to work in this field in schools, and also provides training to our students.”
Özdemir emphasized that VEX is more than just a robotics organization. “Vex also offers academic content that includes robotics coding, information technologies, mechatronics, engineering, science, physics, mathematics, and many other fields. Our goal as Vex Turkey is to win the world championship and fly our flag there,” he stated.
Maintaining Excellence and Aiming for Victory
Betül Beydaş, a participant in the competition, shared her team’s aspirations. “This is our first year in the project. But despite being our first year, we have reached the Turkey championships with the excellence award. Our goal is to win the excellence award again and to return from here with first place. We are implementing our project on a Swerve robot. Our robot is called a Swerve robot. We also gave a little importance to the mascot for our project; we tried to dress like a robot. Since our name is Çeribot, we tried to make it as a Janissary and a robot. There are 7 people in our team. Three of us girls are involved in design. We deal with mascots. The boys have two drivers and a first place winner.”
Ayşe Karagöl, another participant, added, “We have been in this competition for a year. There are 11 of us. At the same time, since our foundation sponsors the construction of this robot, we work by holding competitions within ourselves. Our project is generally to get higher scores by creating a strategy in the construction of the robot and to go to the world championship. Our goal is to go to the world championship and win there and get the excellence award once again.”
Source: https://www.dha.com.tr/yerel-haberler/istanbul/istanbul-vex-robotics-turkiye-sampiyonasi-basl-2827947
