We arrived in South Africa🇿🇦 a few days before the competition. During the first three days of our stay, we explored the area around Cape Town and headed south. Staying in the cozy town of Hermanus gave us the chance to visit Gearing’s Point, the Klipgat Caves, and Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa🌍. In the evenings, we also assembled our robot🤖 and tested it 📈. On our way back to Cape Town, we stopped by the Stony Point Penguin Colony🐧 and visited Stellenbosch.

On the fourth day, we drove back to Cape Town. After settling in, we were back on the road again to explore the Cape Peninsula. We visited Muizenberg Beach🏄🏖️, the Cape of Good Hope, Diaz beach🌊, enjoyed a beautiful sunset along Chapman’s Peak Drive🌄, and our favourite were the penguins at Boulders Beach🐧🐚.

We spent the last few days before the start of the competition exploring “The Mother City” 🌊⛰️. We swam at Clifton Beach in the freezing Atlantic Ocean🥶🏖️ and hiked up Table Mountain🥾🗻. We also visited the city center, the colourful Bo-Kaap district🎨🏘️, and the vibrant Waterfront⚓️🎶. Some of our team members even ran a half marathon around the city🏃🌆! In addition to all of this, we spent a lot of time preparing for the competition by testing our robot and improving our presentations.

The Open Africa Championship started on 7 May. A friendly atmosphere welcomed us as we prepared our pit area. Around noon, the opening ceremony took place. All teams were introduced, and we particularly enjoyed the connecting activity with the wool skeins🧶🌐, which created a network between 80 teams from 40 countries. In the afternoon, we had many inspiring discussions with other teams and tested our robot in a practice round🦾💚. In the evening, a cultural evening was held, where we presented the traditions of Easter Monday in Slovakia🇸🇰🐣.

The second day of the competition was packed with robot game rounds🤖 and our judging session🎤. This was also the day we scored 620 points in the robot game!💯 In the afternoon, we explored the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town🐠🦈🐙.

On the third competition day, we formed two alliances – with AQUA INNOVATORS from Uganda🇺🇬 and with LEGOLOIS from France🇫🇷. And Peter, a former member of our team, volunteered as a referee!

In the afternoon of the third day, the Award Ceremony took place. Scoring the maximum of 620 points secured us 1st place in the Robot Performance Award🤖🥇! By impressing judges with our robot design, innovation project SeaSupp, and teamwork, we were awarded 3rd place in the Champion’s Award🏆🥉!

With this competition, the SUBMERGED season ended for us, and we would like to thank everyone who supported us during the season and during the event💚. Big thanks to our coaches, mentors, former members, experts, our families, friends, and many others. We would especially like to thank the Nadanie Plus Foundation, ESET Foundation, and FLL Slovakia. 

Team members: Dominik Bezák, Jakub Klabník, Matej Klabník, Matúš Martinka, Hana Siebertová

Coaches: Dušan Bezák, Marcel Klabník
Mentor: Peter Siebert
Our support team: Pavol Bezák, Branislav Martinka, Zuzana Siebertová

Image sources: FIRST South Africa and Hexadron