A total of 170 pupils from primary and junior high schools across Da Nang on Sunday excitedly participated in the city-level Robothon and WeCode Destive Day, which was jointly organised by the municipal Department of Education and Training and the DTT Eduspec Joint Venture.

Themed ‘2050 FoodEffect’, the event aimed to encourage the pupils to think about the possibility of food shortages by 2050, and how robotics could be used as a solution in the context of the ever-increasing global population, and further reduced arable land. Therefore, the role of automation and robotics in agricultural production will become increasingly important for future generations.

According to the event’s organisers, under the Robothon competition’s rules, the contestants were required focus on programming skills to gain the highest scores by harvesting fruits, sowing seeds correctly in the box, identifying and transporting damaged machines to repair facilities, and simultaneously transporting parcels to the silo area or taking them to the warehouse.

As for the content of the WeCode contest, the competitors had to take measures so as to create a sustainable food future by 2050. In detail, the focus was on coding an original animation, game, mobile app or Windows program that introduce a challenge of food effect and describe the possible solutions from the 3-course menu. They are reducing growth in demand for food and other agricultural products, increasing food production without expanding agricultural land, and protecting and restoring natural ecosystems.

The 2 contests aimed to select the best teams to compete at the international-level  Robothon and WeCode competitions, both of which are scheduled to take place in Guangzhou, China, next month.