ROBOTICS WORKSHOP 2013

For the workshop,15 schools from Galle and Matara districts were invited and from them 10 were participated. The chief guest was Dr. Nirod N. Samarawickrama who is the senior training director of IJSE Galle.

The main objective of the project was to enhance the theoretical and most importantly the practical knowledge of the students on a field that would be highly valuable in the future and motivate the students to make their future career in such a field. And also it would be helpful to the students who are intended to participate for the robotics competition which would be held in December.

The workshop was conducted by some talented and experienced undergraduates from the Department of electronics and telecommunication of university of Moratuwa. It was a great opportunity for the students to get shared the ideas and experience with them. 

The workshop was completely conducted by some talented and experienced undergraduates from the department of electronics and telecommunication of university of Moratuwa. First we gave a small introduction with some relevant videos about robotics in the world, to make an interest in their minds on the particular field. Students came to aware of the fact that, robotics is consists of 3 categories.

·         Electronics part

·         Programming part

·         Mechanical part

 In the programming section students were taught how to program the “arduino” board which would act as the brain of the robot. The most important thing is, any kind of programming knowledge was not    required to learn, because the lessons have been done from the basics of programming.

In the mechanical part, students got to know about the basics of the structure of a robot. We introduce them various types of materials that can be used to make the chassis, wheels, how to mount the circuits motors and all the other parts to the chassis. And by mounting them, how to keep the gravitational center in the best position in order to keep the robot stably. 

Light a Candle to Light the World

A special program was organized by Leo club of University of Moratuwa to arouse the curiosity towards mathematics of students in rural schools. “Light a candle to light the world” was held in Deiyandara National School on 23.09.2013 at Deiyandara National School auditorium with the participation of about 250 students.

Although the students in this school are having the talent and the resources, they are weak in mathematics due to the lack of their interest towards the subject. Therefore the main objective of this event was to make these students interested in the subject and arouse their curiosity to learn the subject keenly.

About 15 Leos and prospects conducted this event. The event was started around 9.00 am and from the very beginning onwards students’ interest towards the programme was clearly seen. They got a valuable opportunity to plan how to reach final goal in their lives, having the idea that “planning to fail is fail is failing to plan” within this program. 

This planning session was quite a help for them to learn how to use the knowledge, they gain from school and how to continue the gathering of knowledge and using it in day to day life. Furthermore we could encourage them in order to successfully complete the oncoming GCE O/L examination and select a most suitable subject stream for GCE A/L examination. Morning section of this programme was mainly targeted to motivate the students. Therefore it considered of fun games along with mathematics and a special video which taught them the connection between the mathematics and nature. They were further encouraged to go for higher education entering a university, by sharing the experience of Leos and prospects of the UoM.

The principle sir, all the teachers and the staff were also keenly helped us for that. Students were provided with refreshment in the afternoon break. We provided them with some practical mathematics questions papers as well. At the end of this session we felt that we could change their negative attitude to a positive one. It was a different experience for us as well, with the feeling that we could light a candle to light the world of an innocent student.

Kekulu Sithata Sadhaham

          As Leos, we always intend social groups, school children as our main target groups for our services. Therefore this time we changed that custom. 

        Dhamma school of Weligama Wijayarama temple was chosen as the venue and we decided to carry on an educational guidance program for the children studying Buddhism at the temple on every Sundays. We chose this special place as we wanted to render our service to innocent children who are undergoing many hardships during studying than children in towns who are always benefited.

    Our intensions were to guide them how to study effectively, how to improve their talents and to shape up their future through their hidden and never shown talents. We, together with all our members tried hard to get maximum efficiency of the program with the limited time we had, giving these rural children a relaxing, but useful moments.

         We prepared examination papers for all grades, from grade 1 to 11. Teachers who are working at dhamma school collaborated with us in preparing these papers and marking them. It’s a responsibility to remind their coordinate support throughout the program. The prizes and small appreciations were ready for the high marks recorders day before we held the exam.

The results and outcomes were reported at the 2^nd literary meeting for the year of 2013 held just after the exam. The function was successful with the participation of more than 200 student members. Students recorded highest marks from each grade were appreciated with the presents at the meeting as a promotion for further study. They were also guided how to face an exam and how to spend time before facing an exam. The project was a success and appreciation is owned by our club members as well as the staff of the temple.