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Kids robot

ABOUT

Robotics and Coding are undoubtedly two important buzz words in educational circles worldwide. With the SA Education Department’s increased focus on STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) in the school curriculum, it isn’t surprising that Robotics and Coding will soon become compulsory subjects – even in the foundation phase.


It is expected that Robotics and Coding (Programming) will be included in the general school curriculum from next year. Such pilot programs have already been introduced in certain South African schools from the beginning of this year.


Many parents will probably be concerned that their children won’t be ready for the challenges associated with such subjects, most of which us older generations perceive as “difficult” and “too technologically advanced” to grasp.
Instead of waiting for Government to introduce kids to these subjects, parents can give their children a head start by enrolling them at Trophy Computers & Robotics, a mobile company, that provides educational resources and training in the fields of computers and robotics to schools.

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Trophy Computers CC was established in 1997 when Zelda Pretorius, the owner, founded Ex-E-Sport (Excellent Education & Sport).
In the early years the main objective of the business was to provide computer training to children at schools which could not afford computer centres. In 2002 LEGO Robotics was added to the business.  In 2019 Arduino and micro:bit were introduced and 2020 amaKhodi joined as well. The latest addition was the combination of LEGO and micro:bit in the Nezha robotics set.

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TCR is a closed corporation with Zelda as the CEO, and managed by both her husband, Pieter, and herself. It has since grown and split into 3 divisions (TCR-Group) to become a remarkable family business.

The company mission is to inspire kids, create learning opportunities and enlighten inquisitive minds. Each role-player in this business has extensive experience, either in the field of working with kids or technical training – or both.


TCR-Group offers robotics classes for children from Grade R to 12 to give them opportunities to experience Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths in a fun way. Here they learn to solve problems following the design process while being supported with step-by-step instructions from the facilitator. The youngsters learn how to work in groups, but they also get ample opportunity to explore their own ideas to come up with unique and creative designs. In addition, they are taught to design and build robots to complete specific tasks in a given time and present it through skills learnt in the computer classes.

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The divisions of the TCR-Group family are:

  1. Trophy Computers & Robotics CC (Zelda)             Robotics classes, curriculum developer

  2. inkSMART (PTY)Ltd (Pieter snr)                             Curriculum provider, teacher training

  3. P2Z Robotics (PTY)Ltd (Pieter jnr)                          Extra-mural classes and digital designs

  4. Freelance (Michelle)                                                Social media and marketing

Their curriculum is aligned to the Draft curriculum of the DBE.

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Our accomplishments:

Pieter Pretorius

  • Company Director - inkSMART

  • Operational Partner for FIRST LEGO League South Africa: 2004 to 2009.

  • Coached more than 100 FLL teams all around South Africa in the past 14 years.

  • Head Judge Advisor for FLL South Africa : 2007 to 2012.

  • Judged at 4 world championship events and 1 European Championship event for FLL.

  • Currently the director of Robofest South Africa.

  • Technical manager and curriculum developer of Trophy Computers & Robotics.

 

Zelda Pretorius

  • Company Director - TCR

  • Area co-ordinator for Junior FLL – Vaal and Sasolburg area

 

Pieter and Zelda Pretorius: 2003 - 2017

  • 2003 – EARLY Robotics Competition. The First intercontinental Robotics competition run over the internet between South Africa and NASA.

  • 2004 – Trophy Robotics sponsored the pilot tournament of FIRST LEGO League in South Africa.

  • 2005 – TCR Team –Explorobots came second in the FLL national Championship.

  • 2006 – TCR Team – Explorobots win a Judges trophy at the Robotics world championship in Atlanta and also competed in the FIRST Robotics competition and win several safety awards, website design awards as part of the international team – Oaktown Crewz.

  • 2007 –TCR Team form a FIRST Robotics team with Ferndale High School in the USA called the IMPI Robotics Team and competed in the FIRST Robotics Championship. The team won the Engineering Inspiration Award.

  • 2008 – The Impi Robotics team achieved a 39th place in their division at the Robotics world championship competition in Atlanta.

  • 2011 – 2 x TCR Teams came first and second at the SA national FLL tournament. The Exquisite Foodilicious team went on to compete at the world Championship event in St.Louis and the Cubs team competed at the European Championship in Mannheim Germany – both teams came back with trophies.

  • 2014 – The Dragons Team from Trophy Robotics won the Robofest High School Robotics Exhibition world championship trophy in Michigan USA and the junior team, Jomosoco, came 2nd in their division.

  • 2017 – One of our homeschool teams won the SUMO competition at the Robofest World festival in Florida, USA.

  • 2018 – One of our club members won the Junior Gameplay at the World festival in Michigan.

 

Pieter jnr and Michelle Pretorius:

  • Pieter was part of the Explorobots team as mentioned above 2005-2007.

  • Michelle was mentor for the Exquisite Foodilicious team - mentioned above in 2012.

  • They were also both assistant robotics teachers since their early teens.

TCR corporations logos. P2Z, First tech challenge, inksmart
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