NovaBR’s Young Apprentices are highlights in robotics tournament

Students of the first class of the Young Apprentice Program implemented by NovaBR, a project which foresees the construction of a Trunk Bus System in the Metropolitan Region of Belém, were classified for the national stage of the First Lego League Robotics Sesi Tournament, which will take place in March in São Paulo. On February 1st and 2nd, the Robô Liga team won the competition’s regional tournament, an unprecedented event in the region, competing with 22 other groups from various locations in Pará.

The team, which participates in a Robotics project offered by Senai, based its project on the construction of a robot produced with Lego parts and motion sensors to perform the tests. The students also developed a sustainable city project, which uses an application to alert about public parking spaces. The app identifies the vacant space from the movement of vehicles on the streets, using the capture of kinetic energy for the operation of the platform.

The project ranked 1st in the Best Design category and 4th in the Robotics competition. The Robô Liga team counts with the participation of Camili Ranieli, enrolled in the technical Administration course, and three other members of NovaBR: Jonatas dos Santos and Rubens de Souza, 16, and Vinicios Moreira, 15. They participate in the Young Apprentice Program as students of the Building Works Assistant course offered by the National Industry Service (SENAI).

The national stage of the Sesi First League Robotics Tournament will take place on March 6, 7 and 8 at the Ibirapuera Park in São Paulo. For Vinicios Moreira, it was difficult to control his emotions when he found out that he had been qualified for the national stage: “I am very grateful to be part of all this, the team dedicated weeks to design and develop the project. I just want to thank NovaBR for the opportunity,” he celebrated.

For the Electrical Engineer at NovaBR, Lorena Bacelar, the competition is a curricular opportunity that can awaken interest for an academic career. “What these young people are doing today may encourage others to understand how studies can be the way, awakening the need to leave here and seek more knowledge in a college course,” she says.

Young Apprentice

In partnership with the National Service of Industrial Learning (SENAI), NovaBR offers the Young Apprentice Program. The first opportunities were directed to the children, stepchildren, minors under guardianship, or 1st degree relatives of Members, aged between 14 and 17, who are attending high school. Currently, NovaBR has 18 Young Apprentices, who are students of the Construction Work Assistant course, in an initiative offered by Odebrecht Engenharia e Construção Internacional (OECI), a company that performs the BR-316 requalification works.

Students receive scholarships and transportation for full access to classes, which run until August of this year. The classes take place at Senai’s headquarters, with visits to the project’s work site.

Requalification

The BR-316 requalification works take place in the first 10.8 kilometers of the highway, covering the section between Entroncamento (Junction) and the area near the entrance of the Alça Viária (Ring Road). The intervention consists in the implementation of a 3-lane roadway with flexible pavement in each direction, with one lane in each direction for the exclusive use of the Metropolitan BRT, two bike lanes, one in each direction, two walkways for pedestrians, tactile paving, accessibility ramps and urban furniture.

13 sets of passenger stations and 13 pedestrian crosswalks are also being installed along the central construction site. In addition, two BRT terminals, an Operational Control Center (OCC), four underground access tunnels to the terminals and the Ananindeua viaduct are planned. The system will benefit the entire Metropolitan Region of Belém.

It is important that drivers, cyclists and pedestrians keep an eye on safety signs in the area, as there should be brief interruptions in traffic. The NovaBR project is a work of the Government of Pará, through the Metropolitan Transportation Management Center (NGTM).