IT Teens: Davit Azatyan

It’s a proven fact that love for technologies begins in childhood. Today students go to school with smartphones and do their homework on tablets.

There are many teenagers in Armenia now who not only use smartphones and tablets but also try to create something on their own - a game, an app or a program.

Itel.am continues its IT Teens series, presenting Armenian teenagers who’ve been interested in technologies since early childhood and create products in this industry.

10-year-old Davit Azatyan is from Yerevan. For a year now, he has dedicated his free time to the new favorite hobby – technologies. Itel.am has talked to Davit about his experience as a young tech lover.

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My dad enrolled me in coding courses at Whiz Code Academy. I really liked working with Scratch and I decided to keep studying it.

I also study robotic at the center, and I create games.

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I want to go deeper into robotics. In the future, I want to make an offroad robot that will be able, for instance, drive through muddy terrain. I plan to put large wheels on it and give it a complex structure.

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On August 1-4, I took part in the Word Robot Olympiad Friendship Invitational Tournament (WROFIT) in Aarhus, Denmark. It featured 150 teams from 33 countries.

The focus was on smart cities. The robot our team presented was fully built by me and my friend Alexander Vardanyan.

We were competing in the elementary group and we had to build a robot, which would work as an automated, self-driving taxi taking passengers from the starting point to the destination.

The self-driving car can sense the environment and move without interference from humans. The automated control reduces the traffic accident risks and prevents traffic jams.
It was my first international contest. We didn’t take a prize-winning place, but we learned a lot and acquired important experience. The recreational program was great too: on the first day we went to the famous Legoland in Billund. The place is almost entirely built from Lego blocks and the park is divided into parts by theme.

One of them is famous for the SEAT Traffic School for kids. Children learn the traffic rules there and can even get “driving license” after passing exams. So, my friend David and I already have driving licenses (laughs – Itel.am)!

When the competition ended, we traveled to Copenhagen and had great time there too. We visited the Tivoli Gardens, Hans Christian Andersen Fairytale House, Experimentarium Science and Technology Center. I was especially impressed by the locators that enable you to hear people talking in the same building but on a big distance from you. You can create a geyser or a tornado at the center! We also went to the Believe It or Not museum, where we learned about some exciting, unbelievable facts and things.

Ayb Educational Foundation is the only official representative of the World Robot Olympiad in Armenia and the only official organizer of the national competition.
In the scope of WRO any participation of the Armenian teams in friendly and international tournaments are organized with the recommendation and consent of the Ayb Educational Foundation.

Narine Daneghyan
Photos by Emin Aristakesyan