Robotics Team Reflects on Day One at WorldSkills Shanghai

The 48th WorldSkills Competition is officially under way at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre (NECC) in Shanghai, China.

After months of training, the WorldSkills Jamaica team stepped on to the competition floor on Wednesday (September 23), eager to put their skills to the test alongside competitors from various countries across the world.

JIS News caught up with Rayon-Jai Pusey and Antonio Rolong, who are teaming up for skill number 23, Autonomous Mobile Robotics.

Rayon-Jai shared that they raced against the clock to complete module one.

“So far, it’s going pretty well. We did our first module today and we didn’t quite finish to our satisfaction in the time, but I still think we did well when compared to the percentile. We’re definitely in the upper 50 per cent,” he said.

He explained that there was a lot to do, including labelling parts of the robot and writing reports.

“It was really stressful, but I’m glad to see where we came. For the rest of today, we’re going to have to finish the base, which we’re almost done with, just a few more screws to be secured and then we also have to continue working on our OMS, which is the object management system, or the arm,” he said.

Rayon-Jai said the team is in good standing so far, noting that at the end of the four-day competition, the robot is expected to complete a series of tasks.

“We have a lot of modules to do. We have a prototyping module that apparently has to do with colour, which we’re not so sure how that’s going to go, but we know that we are capable of doing it,” he said.

For his teammate, Antonio Rolong, the first day was a little exhausting.

“There’s AC in here, but I’m still pouring buckets. It’s very, very tiring. It’s fun, though; I’d say that. It is fun,” he said.

He plans to refresh himself during the break and return to the workstation to complete the base of the robot and ensure that all aspects are ready to be assessed at the end of the day at 5:00 p.m.