Amazing news. In early September, Eric (7M) and his teammate won the World Robot Olympiad Final for the RoboMission Junior group.

Under the team name of 'The Light Bulb Eaters', both students now advance to the International World Robots Olympiad Final in November, to be held in Panama City.

The RoboMission category challenges teams to build a robot capable of carrying out tasks, such as picking up and delivering objects, navigating a maze, or even sorting items. This year, the theme is sustainability and innovation under the sea.

"This is the first year Eric and his teammate have taken part in the competition," says Eric's dad. "They showed great creativity and resilience yesterday. Their main competitor was last year's winner, so had the advantage of experience and robot build, in that they could use two extra motors."

They had a very good start, yet under great stress in a loud room, Eric and his teammate had to explore lots of different options, while dealing with unexpected components and surprise rules, such as reducing the robot weight to gain a score multiplier.

In the end, The Light Bulb Eaters found a delicate compromise of stability, time and task execution, choosing to ignore harder tasks that only offered low points. With the competitor robot being less stable and making a few mistakes, the team eventually won.

"It was an exciting result, and a great payoff for his time and devotion since March," Eric's dad explains. "Two years ago, Eric was deeply intrigued and motivated by the Vex Robot competition he saw at the Habs Open Day. He's been yearning to take part ever since, so I'm glad to see him progressing, and look forward to more great achievements at Habs."