Robotex Cyprus Awards Ceremony 2023: The new generation of Cyprus scientists

The Cyprus Computer Society (CCS) organised the Robotex Cyprus Award Ceremony 2023 that was held on October 11, 2023, at the Siakoleio Clinical Medicine Training Center of the University of Cyprus.

The event honours those who won first places in the 6th Robotex Pancyprian Robotics Competition, which was successfully completed in July, under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Christodoulides.

The event was welcomed by the Chief Scientist for Research, Innovation and Technology and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Research Foundation, Demetris Skourides. Skourides congratulated the winners as well as all the participants, underlined the great importance of technological innovation for the progress of Cyprus and referred to the long-term support that the Research Foundation offers to the young men and women of the country.

The new generation of Cyprus scientists was also congratulated by the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Filippos Chatzizacharias, whose speech was delivered by his partner, Petros Petrides. He noted that the state and the Deputy Ministry support such events, such as the Robotex competition, which can contribute positively to the formation of a culture in robotic technology.

The Robotex Cyprus Volunteering Award in memory of Andreas Antoniou was presented by the Chief Scientist to Savvas Karasavvas, Sotiris Koullapis and Theofilos Hassan. The three now young scientists and IT professionals, joined the Robotex Cyprus’ committee as university students in 2017 and since then they are volunteering time, effort and expertise every year.

The Chairman of CCS, Costas Agrotis, presented honorary plaques to the representatives of the University of Cyprus, the Youth Board and the IET Cyprus Local Network (Robotex Cyprus Co-organisers) in appreciation of their contribution to the success of the competition.

The stars of the ceremony were the 171 students and adults that won in the final phase in more than 20 different challenges of the competition! Their awards, made from the material of real PCB electronic board, were offered, designed and produced by Robo.com.cy.

The awards were presented by representatives of the bodies that support Robotex Cyprus, namely the Deputy Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, the Research and Innovation Foundation, the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, ETEK and the sponsors: XM, Bank of Cyprus, Neapolis University, Engino , Huawei, Kardex, Hellas SAT, ICDL, Novatex, Zebra Consultants, Netinfo.

Winners currently studing in lyceum, were awarded scholarships offered by all the Private Universities (Neapolis, European, UNIC, Frederick & UCLan). The winners of the Engino challenges, were offered discount coupons from the Engino company.

It is noted that some of the winning teams, will travel to Estonia in November to represent our country at Robotex International. As the Deputy Minister stated: "The Cypriots that swept the awards in the international competitions the previous years, made our country proud and popular!. This is yet another reason to be optimistic about the future of robotic technology in Cyprus.”

The Robotex Cyprus organisers announced the dates for the next one that will be held on the last weekend of June 2024. Until then the Cyprus Computer Society is organising the competitions of the current school year, such as:

• Bebras - computational thinking competition, for primary and secondary schools,
• Olympiad of Informatics for Secondary Education,
• the new robotics competition FLL which will take place in April.

For information on all CCS actions, visit www.ccs.org.cy or contact 22460680.