— First Lady urges youths at inaugural robot exhibition

FIRST Lady Sandra Granger has called on local youths not to play “catch-up” with the rest of the world at the opening of the inaugural National Robot and Technology Exhibition at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Saturday.
Addressing the exhibition, Mrs. Granger said there is a global emphasis on technology and

Guyanese youths should be kept abreast of the developments.
Failure to do so, she said, would result in a society that is always “catching up” and not “getting there.”

“I think the children who have gotten the experience of building robots are finding how enthralling and interesting it can be,” she told the gathering of mostly young people as she expressed elation about the programme.
The exhibition follows the hosting of a series of robotics camps last year by numerous Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) clubs.
Pioneer of STEM Guyana and Exhibition Coordinator Karen Abrams, said the event was conceptualised and implemented as there is a need to educate and inform Guyanese about the work STEM Guyana has been doing.

STEM Guyana has been ably supported by the First Lady and clubs have been created in Kuru Kururu, Buxton, the Bishops’ High School, President’s College, Good Hope/Lusignan Learning Centre and the North Ruimveldt Church of the Nazarene
The exhibiters on Saturday demonstrated how technology and robotics are critical to global development in terms of providing solutions for food security, oil and gas, healthcare, education, the environment and crime control.

The Buxton Pride STEM robotics team illustrate through their robots, the application of technology in solving real-life problems.
One of the club’s creations, an agriculture-based solution, was geared at helping to address food security.
“We’re hoping to inspire some of the young people. They might not leave here [the robotics exhibition] being experts, but they will at least be curious,” Abrams told the Guyana Chronicle,

The team representing Guyana next month on July 14- 19 in Washington D.C. at the Global Robotics Championship, also displayed their robot, what it is capable of so far and interacted with young enthusiasts.
With very little experience, the team had to build a robot using their creativity and will be vying for the win come next month.
Mrs Granger was proud that it has not been an entire year since the youths were first introduced to robotics, but they will nevertheless represent Guyana next month at the world championship.

Abrams said the young folk are learning a myriad of other qualities and values through team activities.
“We’re still three weeks away [from the global competition], our progress is good but there’s still a lot of work to do,” she emphasised.
Diaspora support has been one of the pillars underpinning STEM Guyana activities and Abrams related that more and more local entities and individuals are joining the support team.

“This is truly a public-private, local-diaspora project to help to unleash the world- class potential of Guyanese youth,” she said, adding: This truly serves as a model for the development of other areas.”