Ilūkste students win world robotics title as sector relies on enthusiasm

Three students from Ilūkste have become world champions in robotics, beating 200 teams from 45 countries at an international competition in Croatia, LSM reports. Their result is the biggest achievement in Latvian robotics to date.

The team, BlackCom Senior, is made up of Armands, Miķelis and Elvis, 11th-grade students at Ilūkste Raiņa Secondary School in Augšdaugava municipality. In September, they placed second at the world championship and earned European and world champion titles.

The students and their mentor, teacher Airita Šuksto, said the result was built on years of work. “This is our tree of skills. It is what we have learned over 11 years,” Šuksto said. Miķelis said the team had spent a long time developing its robotics experience and building different Lego and similar constructions.

The competitions require precision, creativity and problem-solving, the students said. This year’s theme was “Robotics meets culture”; tasks included recreating a mosaic, transporting instruments, following a line as quickly as possible without leaving the track, and competing in robot battles.

Robotics skills can be useful across industries, including manufacturing, where automation and digitisation are advancing, said Andris Kucins, head of the Latgale Entrepreneurship Centre. Despite the students’ success, robotics in Latvia still relies on the enthusiasm of teachers and parents.