The RomeCup has become a major event for all those promoting educational robotics as a driver for the development of the entire economy. It’s a community of innovators that meets at the exhibition area, the competitions, the workshops and the meetings and debates, but that stays on-line all year thanks to the development of a Network.

 

All the material documenting every edition of the RomeCup (multimedial, photo galleries, press reviews, official documents, manuals etc.) are permanently on-line and free.     An official video presentation is currently being prepared. The seventh edition of the RomeCup will be held in Rome on March 20-22, 2013.

•   FMD-Expomed Agreement

 

Another less noticeable, but just as important feat is the ability to attract new energy and new resources and coordinate them successfuly. The programmers from Belpasso, for example, competed in two categories – Dance Secondary and Rescue Secondary – at their first RomeCup.  They are students at ITIS G. Ferraris in Belpasso, a town with ca. 25,000 residents in the Province of Catania. Another new team comes from IC Dante Alighieri in Spoltore, less than 20,000 residents in the Province of Pescara, who competed with rescue robots.  The IC Armando Diaz team comes from a big city Catania:  ten young students, their teacher and headmaster. Another rookie team was from Foligno, in the Province of Perugia, the Istituto Superiore Orfini competed in the Rescue Secondary category with three teams. The Tuscan delegation was reinforced by the students from ITIS Galilei Livorno at their first competition in the Explorer Junior Category.

Describing the showcase area in a few words is even harder, but a good idea is provided by the story of Alessandro Zippilli (18), better known as Zipporobotics. His passion comes from his electrician grandfather who would read books about electronics to him, rather than stories. Alessandro attends the Istituto superiore Maserati in Voghera and hopes to enroll in the Milan Polytechnic Faculty of Engineering. He showed up at the RomeCup with his "Elektro 3 Revolution" prototype, a tracked platform for rescuing people in earthquake areas.

 

 

•   2000 students participated in the labs and visited the showcase area stands

•    45 students acted as hostesses and stewards to welcome visitors from three schools in Rome: J. Piaget, T. Confalonieri and S. Aleramo.

•   16 didactic labs for students aged 6-19 in various subjects

•   250 teachers

•   40 robotic prototypes in 19 showcase area stands

•   50 Network Agreement Signatories participated in the debate on the Role of Educational Robotics for National Development.

•   20 different categories have joined the hybrid alliance for educational robotics (universities, companies, schools, associations, foundations, research centres, etc.)

•   4 official documents produced (Network Agreement, Vision, Roadmap and White Paper) as well as an Appeal to Minister Francesco Profumo

•   71 competing teams (students) from 10 Italian regions: Abruzzi, Campania, Lazio, Liguria, Piedmont, Puglia, Sicily, Tuscany, Umbria and Veneto.

•    2 Manuals for the School Didactic Kit (elementary, first degree primary and secondary)

•    70 years difference between the youngest (Dance category) and Oldest programmer: an eighty year-old lady controlling a humanoid robot in the soccer challenge.