The jubilee tenth year of the high school competition Roboti@FSI again attracted teams from all over the country. Within a few hours, they had to build a robot from the kit so that it could best handle the race on the track, where, in addition to terrain irregularities, there were also tricky obstacles. The team of high school students from the Třinec Grammar School coped best.

"A record forty-one teams from all over the country have entered the competition this year, and the twelve teams that have succeeded best in the qualification will compete in the finals today. The teams received the assignment in the morning and now have six hours to build and program the LEGO robot," says Karolína Němečková from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology on behalf of the organizers of the competition.

Behind her, the students are already trying to eliminate the imperfections of their unfinished robots at the race track, and there are still two hours left until the final. "We have an elevated track here on which the robots will drive. They drive one at a time and each team has two minutes to complete as many laps as possible. On the track, they will face obstacles in the form of rising walls that they must avoid, as well as a bridge and a valley that they must get over. I think the biggest challenge is the combination of so many different factors," says Karolína, who is in her fourth year of studying mechatronics at the faculty.

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The popular competition Roboti@FSI is organized annually by the Mechatronics Laboratory at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, the so-called MechLab. During the ten-year history, high schools have become very fond of the robotic competition, and many of them participate repeatedly. The competition attracts young people interested in technology, especially those who like to program or "tinker" in their free time.

For example, as a trio of friends from a team that called itself the "College of Life Engineers". Andrea, Tomáš and Kuba know each other from the Mars Expedition project. Even though they are from different parts of the country, they have found that their cooperation is going well. "All three of us build electronics at home, print in 3D and enjoy robotics. Tom here is from Třeboň, Andy from Ostrava and I come from Prague," says Kuba while working on improving their competition robot.

"We decided to take a slightly different approach than most teams, which is to overtake the obstacles on the track. That's why we're dealing with another problem now, and that's stability when going down and going up a hill," Andrea says, adding that they hope to gain enough time to overtake their rivals thanks to a bold strategy. "We will either be the first or the last," Kuba evaluates the team's chances with a smile and then returns to work on their robot.

There is also a much younger group among the participants this year. "These are pupils of the nearby LABYRINTH Primary School. They wanted to come and see, so we also involved them in the competition so that they could try the task as well," confirms Němečková. A pair of girls who are currently testing their robot immediately add that they will be happy to sign up for the competition officially when they study at high school.

In the finals, several robots eventually paid their toll for their design imperfections, but many did well and the winner was clear: the team Gevaudan_B from the Třinec Grammar School. The competition was traditionally supported by Garrett Motion Czech Republic s.r.o. In addition to material prizes, the best-placed teams also received a waiver of entrance exams to the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Brno University of Technology. Those who use it may also encounter the LEGO kit at university while studying mechatronics.

And how did all the participating teams do?

Order	Team name	School
1	Gevaudan_B	Grammar School, Třinec, allowance organization
2	Sivák boys	Episcopal Grammar School Brno
3	MECHTT	Secondary Technical School, Komenského 1, Trnava, Slovakia
4	Copťáci	Mechanic setter, COPT Kroměříž
5	Prograbers	SPŠ, SOŠ a SOU Hradební, 18-20-M/01 Information Technology, Hradec Králové
5	Rocobots	Grammar School Zlín, Lesní čtvrť
5	Dukla	Secondary School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, České Budějovice, Dukelská 13 / Robotics
6	Beaver; Silicon; A person who likes Kofola; Allen Ginsberg (captain)	Episcopal Grammar School Brno and Kindergarten
6	Optimus Prime	Field of study: Electrical Engineer, Grammar School and Secondary Industrial School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Frenštát pod Radhoštěm, contributory organization
6	Tarat	Secondary Technical School Sokolská, Mechatronics
6	Warm salad	Grammar School, České Budějovice, Jírovcova 8, Grammar School
6	University of Life Engineers	PORG Ostrava, grammar school; Třeboň Grammar School; František Palacký Grammar School Neratovice