'Our Own High School - Al Warqa'a' and 'Dubai Modern High School' have won the second UAE National Robotics Olympiad, an annual robotics event organised by Edutech Middle East.

Edutech, the leading provider of technology-enabled learning solutions, hosted the event at Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology, Men's College.

The winning teams will vie for the coveted grand prize at the fourth World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) to be held November 16 to 18, 2007, in Taipei.

The competition attracted massive interest from more than 32 private and government high schools. Since the preparations for the event up to the actual competition, the sponsors have been continuously providing assistance through their different areas of expertise to ensure that the event will be a success.

'Dubai Modern High School' beat the other teams in the Open Category with their exemplary science fiction narrative about 'Civil Safety, Security and Emergency Response' through carefully constructed robots.

In the Regular Category entitled 'Robo Ambulating Rally', 'Our Own High School - Al Warqa'a' emerged victorious when they successfully manoeuvred along a marked track while correctly following traffic instructions and overcoming hurdles and obstacles.

In addition to effectively demonstrating their high-tech masterpieces, the teams also competently answered a series of questions from the panel of expert judges that included Arif Karrani, faculty engineering, Sharjah Higher Colleges of Technology; Abdul Aziz bin Suqat, Foundation Committee Projects Officer, Institute of Applied Technology; and Kerry Bailey, IT Consultant, ADEC Model Schools.

Since WRO's launch in Singapore in 2004, the international robotic competition has created an effective venue for high school robotics enthusiasts to further advance their craft.

In 2006, the World Robotics Olympiad featured a total of 17 countries including the UAE, Australia, South Korea, China, Japan, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Denmark, Russia and Iran.

This year, WRO has witnessed another milestone as countries from the Middle East such as Egypt and Qatar made their debut at the competition.- TradeArabia News Service