When we first told our learners they'd be competing in the World Robot Olympiad South Africa, the reactions were split evenly between disbelief and excitement. For students at Ngwanalaka Senior Secondary School, a national robotics competition felt like something that happened to kids at private schools in Johannesburg — not to them.
We set out to change that.
What is WRO SA?
The World Robot Olympiad is an international robotics competition that challenges teams to design, build, and program robots to complete tasks. WRO SA is the South African qualifier, and it draws schools from across the country.
The competition is intense. Teams must build a robot that completes a themed challenge — usually involving navigation, object manipulation, and autonomous decision-making — within a strict time limit. The robot must be rebuilt from scratch at the competition venue, so teams can't rely on a pre-built machine. They need to understand every component.
Preparing on Saturdays
Our preparation ran through our regular Saturday sessions. We carved out a dedicated WRO track within our Maker Projects programme, where competition teams worked on:
- Mechanical design: Building sturdy chassis that could navigate obstacle courses reliably
- Sensor integration: Using ultrasonic and infrared sensors for line-following and obstacle detection
- Programming logic: Writing C++ code for Arduino-based controllers with conditional branching and sensor fusion
- Strategy sessions: Analysing the competition rules and optimising our approach for maximum points
The learners impressed us. Students who six months earlier had been learning what a breadboard was were now debugging timing issues in their motor control code.
Challenges We Faced
We won't pretend it was easy. Some real obstacles:
- Equipment limitations: We had enough microprocessors and sensors for practice, but sourcing competition-grade parts required creative fundraising
- Transport logistics: Getting teams from rural Limpopo to competition venues required careful planning and partnership support
- Confidence gap: Our learners needed convincing that they belonged at a national competition — imposter syndrome is real, even for teenagers
What We Learned
Win or lose, the WRO preparation was transformative. Our learners developed:
- Time management — building a robot from scratch under pressure
- Teamwork — three people, one robot, lots of opinions
- Resilience — when the robot doesn't work on the first try (or the fifth), you keep going
- Technical depth — competition demands a level of understanding that casual programming doesn't
What's Next
We've registered to run our own in-house WRO-style competitions — giving more learners a chance to experience competitive robotics before the national stage. We're also expanding our competition track to include more teams from both partner schools.
If your business or organisation can sponsor a competition entry — covering registration, materials, and transport — a R5 000 Catalyst donation makes it possible.