Female junior high-school students have proved that they are ready to break the long-standing gender biases of society and proudly waved the banner of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) when they joined the newly launched Tagisang Robotics Competition (TRC) 3.0: Girls & Gears, the first and only all-female robotics competition in the country.
Aiming to bridge the wide gender gap in robotics education and to address issues of underrepresentation of women in STEM, the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute recently launched the TRC 3.0: Girls and Gears, a reboot of one of its successful and decade-long running programs, the TRC: Design, Build and Play, the DOST-SEI said in a news release.
DOST-SEI Director Dr. Josette T. Biyo announced the launch last March 27 at the opening ceremony of the TRC 3.0: Girls & Gears’ Mobot Interfacing Using the Arduino Microcontroller. It was a five-day technical training and workshop meant to prepare the female students for the Competition Stage.
In her video message, Biyo praised the young girls for their burning passion to learn and take part in the field of robotics and promised to continue strengthening initiatives that aim to create a more diverse and more inclusive robotics community.
Biyo also expressed delight to celebrate the National Women’s Month with the start of the new TRC.
She challenged the female participants to make the most out of their learnings throughout the competition and use the new knowledge they will gain to improve the state of Science and Technology in the country, DOST-SEI said.
In its maiden year, the TRC 3.0 featured groups of four female students, together with their coaches, from 20 science and technology (S&T)-oriented junior high schools battling out to win a trophy and P100,000 cash.
The 20-participating school-teams in the competition’s pioneering batch are the following: Caloocan National S&T High School (HS), Las Piñas National HS, Makati Science HS, Malabon National HS, Manila Science HS, Marcelo H. Del Pilar National HS, Marikina Science HS, Muntinlupa Science HS, Parañaque Science HS, Pasay City West HS, Pasig City Science HS, Pitogo HS, Quezon City HS, Rizal HS, Rizal National Science HS, San Francisco HS, San Juan City Science HS, Sen. Renato Cayetano Memorial S&T HS, Taguig City Science HS and Valenzuela School of Mathematics and Science.
The school-teams underwent a five-day technical training and workshop from March 27 to 31, 2023 at a hotel in Parañaque. It focused on learning the basics of robotic technologies, such as the microcontroller, electronics, sensors and automation processes.
The training sessions were facilitated by lecturers from ThinkLab, namely, Engr. Elgie Cabarubias, Kate Justin Flores, John Paul Caballeda, Veena Barnachea, Engr. Mark Jayson de Jesus and Engr. Josiah Sicad.
ThinkLab helped the female students program their mobots to perform specific tasks.
In celebration of the National Women’s Month, the students were also given the opportunity to unleash their girl power and join the “60-Minute Gewe for Girls,” a workshop on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, led by an independent Gender and Development consultant Marita Pimentel.
During the program, Engr. Carlos Matti Opus, chairman of the Board of Judges, explained the mechanics, schedules and prizes of the game.
The DOST-SEI’s study, “Women in Science Fact Sheet No. 4,” the 2021 publication which paved the way for the need to push for an all-female robotics competition, was also discussed.
Bern Irish Arguelles, a former scholar and a current statistician at DOST-SEI, provided an overview of the status of women in the S&T workforce, revealing their low representation in the fields of engineering, architecture and other related fields.
Shumate Royo, a tech community enabler and former managing director of Devcon, urged the girls to hold hands in aiming to close the gender divides in S&T.
She focused on expressing women’s involvement in various scientific pursuits to give the girls the confidence to continue waving the banner of women, not just in the field of robotics, but in all aspects of life.
She challenged the girls to become the STEM role models and to not forget to pay it forward.
After the five-day technical training and workshop, a series of practice games will be held to further test the teams’ skills in robotics.
The in-person practice round and the final game are set to take place in July, the DOST-SEI said.