New young world champions for Croatia.
Filip Kuzminski, Matko Pribičević and Roko Parać are young Croats who have won the first place at the world robotics competition RoboCup Junior in China. In the Soccer category, these high school students have once again proved that Croatia is a land of football, according to a report in Vecernji List on July 27, 2015.
“We had small robots made of plastic, which we began working on just this year. Other teams were better prepared, and at the next championships we expect even better results. The ball emits infrared rays, and the robots have to locate it and play with it. In this category, teams from different counties play together, but we were the best considering the fact that our robot scored one goal, and prevented the opposite team from scoring.”
These students from Zagreb and Varaždin were greeted at the airport by their supporters, just like real footballers Boban, Šuker and Prosinečki used to be welcomed by adoring masses. Their mentor, Ivica Kolarić, was very proud.
“Since we weren’t as well equipped as others, we thought we were just going to participate, but then it turned out that our little robots were very successful. When we scored a goal, our euphoria cannot be described.” He also added that, in the last five years, Croatia has never returned from a world robotics competition without at least a medal.
“This year, we were better than the Japanese team, and next year we will be better even than the Germans”, said Ivan Kolarić from Varaždin and Janko Pribičević from Zagreb, who won silver medal in the Rescue Maze category. Their robot had to find its way through a maze. The young geniuses will now rest for a few days, and then they will start preparing for the competition next year.
