世界青少年机器人大赛在京开幕

Mark is the captain of the team from Southport School in Australia. Their robot is required to collect balls of different sizes, from ping-pong balls to golf and tennis balls.

"We were slowly improving. This morning wasn't great, but we are getting better and better as we go along."

The experience is quite unique for all the young robot players, as they are not only learning to solve real world technical problems using classroom knowledge, but also practicing skills in communication, teamwork, and creative thinking.

Carlos Duran is a team coach from Mexico City.

"All the teams are very competitive. It's very good to have teams from different countries. They're all getting well related. We are happy to share with all the other teams. This is a game, but this is a serious game."

The robot games were organized by Simia, China's exclusive source of official LEGO Education Centers from Denmark. President of Simia China, Eugene Zhang, introduces the contest.

"We have 3 categories, the World Robot Olympiad, FIRST Robot Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge. Altogether we have over 16 countries and over 150 teams here this time. We are very happy that all the teams could travel great distances to come to Beijing in the winter time."

Donald E. Bossi, president of non-profit organization FIRST, says their study shows that 90 percent of the kids in robotics do better in school, even though they spend a lot of time working on the robots.

"Sometimes studying for tests is not the most fun, and this sort makes learning fun. There's a lot of learning going on, but at the same time, they really enjoy themselves. So we always say we put the inspiration first, the education comes along with it, which I think a lot of teams are enjoying."

Besides the robot competition, the event also comprises a main forum and 12 sub-forums with speakers from China, Germany, the United States and Japan reporting on robot research and technology development. An exhibit is held as well, featuring the latest products, and showcasing the research findings.

The number of industrial robots sold in China reached 57 thousand last year, which marked an increase of 55 percent on a year-on-year basis and one-quarter of global sales.

For CRI, I am Chi Huiguang.