"School is over, but not for everyone" The La Stampa daily describes how the students who qualified at the RomeCup [see news: Teams on the Podium] are preparing for the World Robotics Championships in Nagoya: Allievi del Cobianchi di Verbania in Giappone con i robot-calciatori [in Italian].

Nine students from IIS Lorenzo Cobianchi in Verbania will participate in the mission to Japan on July 26-30: Hans Chikawui, Lorenzo De Gasperi, Fabio Rizzi, Matteo Bellorini, Marco Vitale, Federico Cantoreggi, Alessandro Micheloni and Luca Dal Molin, together with Coach Alberto Mazzaccaro.  

The students from the Cobianchi School, who developed their project with the Elettra Robotics Lab Association in Domodossola, are training the two champions: Titanus and Atom. 

The first is a robot with artificial vision, measuring 55 centimetres tall, that can play football or dance. The second is 45 centimetres tall, weighs 1.5 kg., but can only dance. Football stars Viper 2 e Viper III, instead, are smaller.

Championships aside, robotics helps students to learn. “In this sector,” explains Raimondo Sgrò, “motivation is extremely high. Students are fascinated by the opportunity to build a robot with their own hands. However, they also learn that to progress, they must study electronics and computer science.” Headmistress Vincenza Maselli is very satisfied: «This is our school excellence and we are already thinking about extending these activities further for next year.”