There is a robust revolution about to sweep across the local education landscape, and parents had better take heed: The robotic invasion is already in gear.

And those parents who have already concluded that robots will never influence their children’s lifestyle had better start paying attention: Robotics is a new and exciting formula for stimulating interest in learning, and the kids are beginning to see the value of robots as foot soldiers in what they are hoping will become a robotic age.

The world is already using computer-controlled robots to perform manual tasks, including on motor vehicle assembly lines. But the implications are more enormous for robotics, as the children are learning to create robots which can play a much more cerebral role in their lives.

For this reporter, it all came down to a couple of hours inside the Assembly Hall at the University of The West Indies (UWI), Mona, last Sunday, watching the dynamos behind this new educational phenomenon combine efforts for the staging of Jamaica’s first World Robotics Olympiad.

Twenty teams and a total of 80 students, mainly from Kingston and St Andrew, participated in the event: a marvelous experience demonstrating the creativity of Jamaican students even at the primary or preparatory levels, who showed how they can use creativity to produce robots that seem almost human.

Fifteen schools were represented, separated into two sections — (Elementary) Allman Town, Friendship and North Street Primary, Mona and St Hugh’s preparatory, Clan Carthy High and the American International School of Kingston (AISK); and (Junior) Ardenne, Calabar, Convent of Mercy/Alpha, Kingston College, Immaculate Conception and Tarrant High Schools, as well as AISK and Hillel Academy.

It was evident that AISK had an extremely good robotics programme going, as they were represented in two classes. However, although they pipped St Hugh’s and Allman Town in the Elementery class, they failed to make the top three in the Junior section where Hillel Academy came out on top just ahead of Kingston College, with Ardenne High finishing third.

Melanie Subratie, vice-chairman of Musson Jamaica Limited and chairman of Seprod Foundation which was the presenting sponsor for the event, was extremely proud of the outcome and spoke glowingly at the end of the competitive event.

“We are really excited by the turnout for this Olympiad in Jamaica. I think everyone had a great day. Everyone learnt a lot, there was a lot of team work displayed, and I really think that this is just the start of robotics competition in Jamaica and that it can last for years,” she commented.

“The fact that you have this number of students doing robotics in schools, and this number of people deciding to coach a school team, I think is incredible. I don’t think there is any other country in the Caribbean which could field this many participants,” she noted.

“I think this really establishes Jamaica as a leader in the region for robotics in schools, and I give credit to the organisation by Halls of Learning,” she stated.

She was referring to Marvin Hall, the national organiser for the event and head of Halls of Learning.

He is rated among Jamaica’s best mathematics teachers, and is also the founder and head of Halls of Learning, a formidable educational institution which has been providing robotics and coding teaching for young students, as well as driving home to their parents the need for the education system to absorb at least some of the aesthetics of robotics.

Hall thinks that the experience teaches youngsters to be critical in thinking which, he believes, is what 21st-Century education will be all about.

A board member of Montego Bay’s newly opened educational institution, the Fairfield Academy, Hall accepts that he owed becoming such a highly rated math teacher after eventually finding himself and becoming engaged in technology, especially robotics.

He has taught robotics and technology at AISK, and has already taken a team to compete in robotics in Florida.

Hall believes the science field in the region is still far from its potential, because most of its best scientific mind still emigrate to the United States and Europe.

“We must become committed to creating the environment in the Caribbean that will keep our best scientists, and attract the best in the world to this environment,” he noted.

Hall’s success has also attracted the attention of the New Fortress Energy Company, the gold sponsor for last Sunday’s event; Mailpac, the silver sponsor; and Mayberry Investments, the bronze sponsor.

Other sponsors were Main Event, National Outdoors, Pussbackfoot, and Locker Room Sports.,

“We are really looking forward to a Jamaican team eventually winning the world competition,” Melanie Subratie pointed out, noting that the winners of Sunday’s competition will be going to Thailand to compete at the world level.

The event was also supported by the UWI’s Faculty of Engineering at Mona.