Team Solomon Islands 2017

We are team Solomon Islands and proud to represent out school Woodford International School and the Island Nation in South Pacific Ocean. We are a very young team that assembled about 8 weeks ago. We come with basic exposure to Robotics that came by because of the newly introduced Robotics Club at our school. We are of different age group and experience but are determined to do our best and learn as much as possible from this opportunity. Our start was ‘Rocky’ as the 3 members of our original 4 membered team dropped out. It took a while to get the team back with new members but that meant loosing some valuable time. We have doubled our efforts to make up for lost ground. Its an inspiring time for all of us we look forward to it with the knowledge that our participation will inspire many students in our school and students across country. We look forward to this new experience, meeting peers from around the world and learning from each other.

Mr Rakesh Pandey, our mentor comes with a lot of prior experience in mentoring and preparing teams for international robotics competitions and he has been instrumental in putting this team together. As a passionate educator he sees this as an opportunity not just for us but to kick start STEM based programmes in all schools. He believes that this can inspire more students in future to be part of STEM education.

Our Youngest team member Travis and our little programmer has following to share :

“Excitement! The one feeling I am sure that I feel. The opportunity to represent Solomon Islands and Woodford International School. Seeing that I am only 12 and underage I am grateful for the opportunity that i have been given to make new friends, learn about robots and see how others interpret the problem.

This competition means the world to me and I am 100% sure that this experience will change my life forever”

Ryan, who is the designer, programmer, operator and spokesperson and also the team captain says:

“For me growing up, I’ve always been around gadgets and had an excellent reputation for dismantling them interested in how they work. My interests have not died down and I hope to one day pursue a career in the field of electronics inspired by my love for wires, mechanisms and my dad, a hard-working electrical engineer. I could only hope to be as focused as him, but in the field of technology where the word innovation intrigues this curious mind and where the workplace changes with interesting new projects and new sets of challenges all the time. This world progresses every single day with new discoveries and technological innovations. I just want the chance to be a part of it. For me, being a part of this competition has now opened my mind to reality and that my ambitions are not very far away if I work for it. It falls directly in line with what I would like to pursue in the future. An opportunity of a lifetime would be an understatement “

Nathan, builder and nicknamed “Mr Extrusion” has following to add :

“I am really honored to be apart of this competition with my team. Travelling to the US will be a great experience. This would be a great opportunity to represent my school Woodford international in the Solomon Island. This would be the first time solomons is being represented in this competition and going to be able to work with other countries around the world and given that I am 14 years old this will be a great experience “

Marialena who is ever enthusiastic and brings organization to the team has following to share:

“I love team work, working hard and enjoying sharing ideas, brainstorming, agreeing & disagreeing till we get the right decision and implementing our ideas.
I am happy when I go to bed & I feel exhausted but really satisfied of the progress of our work. I cannot wait for the moment that our robot is ready and presented to other groups as well.
I am so excited for having the chance to compete with all these different countries and meet new people!”



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