Three Orang Asli Pupils Win Gold At 27th International Robot Oylimpiad

SEPANG, Dec 23 (Bernama) -- Three Orang Asli pupils from Sekolah Kebangsaan Pengkalan Tereh, Kluang, Johor have brought glory to Malaysia after they won the gold medal in the Creative Idea (Primary School) category of the 27th International Robot Olympiad (IRO2025) in Gold Coast, Australia.

Muhammad Fakhri Che Lah, the team’s teacher advisor, said that their extraordinary success in creating a robot rover to study the surface of Mars, was due to his pupils’ detailed preparation throughout a year.

“They prepared with continuous training in school, with pupils developing various robot designs according to the space theme before selecting the most suitable design during the competition,” he told reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport after their arrival today.

Team member Vyonnie Jezzy James Marcel, 12, said she did not expect her team to emerge champions as the assignment required them to act fast and accurately.

“There were hard parts, and easy parts too. We were given four hours, but we completed the robot in three and a half hours… we used two sensors, high screen line and ultrasonic,” she said about her team’s robot that beat contestants from 15 other countries.

Meanwhile Petrosains Learning Department and Satellite Centre director Norhana Hamim said the success proved the effectivness of Petrosains Tech4All’s inclusive approach in empowering Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.

“What we witnessed today is a very meaningful success… it shows the programme’s effectiveness when our children are given the right platform and programmes suitable with their backgrounds,” she said, adding that the win also dispelled the misconception that Orang Asli students were incapable of competing at the international level.

The Malaysian contingent to IRO2025 included 15 Orang Asli primary school pupils and also won a bronze medal and three technical awards thanks to strategic partnerships between Petrosains, the Education Ministry and the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO).

-- BERNAMA