STEM education has once again come into the spotlight, with the Department of Basic Education recently adding coding and robotics to the subject roster to be offered from Grades R to 9.
Meanwhile, a passion for robotics has come into the spotlight after Matt Greenwood, a Grade 9 Koa Academy learner from Cape Town, shined at the 2024 FIRST Tech Challenge international competition alongside his South African and international teammates.
The 15-year-old joined over 18 000 youths from 58 countries in Houston, Texas, USA for a thrilling four-day event that drew crowds of up to 50 000 people.
In the challenges finale, Matts South African team TEXPAND joined forces with Romanian team AICitizens and Californian team The Clueless to demonstrate their team-built robots and take top honours as the Winning Alliance.
It was a fantastic experience for us all and exciting to see TEXPAND performing at such a high level. Its particularly challenging for us as South Africans as all the robotic parts we need have to be imported from the USA at a high cost. So, we compete on a much smaller budget than many of the US and other international teams, says Matt.
