Israeli students have developed a life-saving robot

A unique rescue robot developed by a student majoring in electronics and computers at the "Or Avner" high school in Or Yehuda represented Israel in the RoboCup Junior competition in China

Students majoring in electronics and computers at the "Or Avner" secondary yeshiva in Or Yehuda, which belongs to the "Or Avner and Hanna" educational network founded by the businessman Lev Lavev, sought to help the security and rescue forces and developed a unique robot for locating and rescuing victims in places where the terrain conditions are difficult.

The autonomous robot, developed within the framework of the rules of the RoboCup Junior Rescue 2008 international robot competition and subject to its limitations, was designed to locate the injured in the field completely independently while dealing with various limitations, objects and obstacles and the ability to navigate difficult slopes and winding angles.

Under the guidance of teacher Moti Meir, the students developed a sophisticated machine with a control unit (Atel computer) that receives information from the environment using a variety of sensors, such as: "ultrasonic" distance sensors, color sensors and infrared sensors. Smart software written by the students allows the machine to make intelligent decisions "in real time", independently and without external intervention.

The robot was designed to deal with complex rescue tasks in a 3-room maze structure, where the degree of difficulty of the tasks and challenges gradually increases, moving from room to room: in the first room, the robot is required to follow the markings of a black rail on which it moves. After a narrow passage to the second room, the track marks stop and the robot should continue navigating through it independently. At this stage, the robot deals with identifying and treating the wounded, marked in green and silver (by lighting a suitable lamp) while overcoming random obstacles in the field, such as stones. When moving to the third room, the robot is required to climb an inclined plane at an angle of 25 degrees, without the track marks but by following walls only. In the room itself, the robot must identify all the injured while dealing with various obstacles such as pieces of wood that are randomly stuck on the floor of the room and locate the exit from the building. For each successfully performed task, the robot receives a relative score, and for malfunctions - a score decreases accordingly.

Following their first place win in the national competition, at the beginning of next week the "Or Avner" students, Alex Haimov and Yuri Vorinicki, together with their teacher Moti Meir, will fly to represent Israel in the international competition that will be held in the city of Suzhou, China.

RoboCup Junior is a robotics competition held as part of the global RoboCup competition. The competition is aimed at project-based learning for students up to the age of 19, and is held in three main categories: football, rescue and art. During the days of the competition, "Or Avner" students will face about 70 teams from around the world. Each group will be given two opportunities to present their development and at the end of a round of judging, the top 12 projects will be selected to compete in the finals.

Rabbi Chaim Orlan, director of the "Or Avner" high school yeshiva, noted that: "During the last six months, the students worked hard on the development of the robot and faced advanced technological challenges. The studies in the major provide tools and abilities at a high level and I believe that its graduates will be able to integrate in the future in knowledge-rich industries and in the developments that help to the security forces and to society in general."

According to the major's teacher, Moti Meir: "RoboCup Junior is the largest robotics competition in the world in the field of education. The uniqueness of the competition is that the students are required to demonstrate the development alone, without the assistance and intervention of the accompanying teacher. The students undergo an examination and questioning by a team of judges consisting of experts from various fields, and among other things, their independent ability to explain the characteristics of the software and detail the features of the development is tested.

Yehuda Beloy, CEO of the "Or Avner and Hana" educational network, said that the students of the electronics and computers major at "Or Avner" are the masters of success in robotics competitions in Israel and abroad: "Last year, the students represented us with honor in the competition held in Atlanta, USA and won the place The first with the "dancing robot" fruit of their development. For the upcoming trip, we wish the delegation to enjoy the experience of competing and to continue the tradition of success in the competition."