全球450支青少年隊伍角逐MakeX機器人挑戰賽總決賽 Zhang Yu JeniZhang13@163.com A total of 450 teams from more than 60 countries and regions including China, Malaysia, Japan, the United States and Russia participated in the world championship of the 2019 MakeX Robotics Competition, which was held in the Guangzhou Asian Games Town Gymnasium from Friday to Sunday. The teams battled it out robot-against-robot to win prize money of 500,000 yuan (US$71,000) and simultaneously broke the record for number of participating countries by three times more than in 2018. The theme of this robot-fighting season was “Light of the City,” which aimed to encourage young people around the world to work together to solve poverty, pollution, safety, disease and other quality-of-life issues and to seek solutions from science and technology to change the future. More than 120 preliminary competitions were held around the world before the final, world-level championship, attracting more than 1,000 teams to participate. The 2019 MakeX Robotics Competition was divided into four different tiers for different age groups: MakeX Spark, MakeX Starter, MakeX Challenge and MakeX Premier. Each theme featured exciting game content, innovative gameplays and its own target objective. Coding Academy is a group from Mexico. “It’s our second time here in China. Last year, we won the championship in Mexico, and we are very proud that we managed to win for a second time and represent Mexico in the global championship this year,” said Manuel Torres, founder of the academy. “We are very proud of our kids and happy to see that they enjoy the games. The competition motivates them to collaborate and learn from different cultures,” Torres added. The 2020 MakeX competition program was released during the opening ceremony. The theme of the 2020 session will be “Future Vision,” and the competition will be divided into five programs in accordance with the age groups. The five programs include MakeX Inspire, MakeX Spark-Future Home, MakeX Starter-Smart Links, MakeX Challenge-Intelligent Innovator and MakeX Premier-Ultimate Warrior. The brand-new MakeX Inspire program targets children between 4 to 7 years old, and MakeX Premier will cover university students. Initiated and sponsored by Makeblock, a Shenzhen-based global STEAM education solution provider, MakeX Robotics Competition debuted in May 2017. Through three years of exponential growth, it is becoming an internationally-renowned cross-cultural platform where contestants can exchange ideas, communicate through competition and teamwork, and develop creativity. | 