GoIT competition for secondary school students at DSA - talented young programmers develop parking assistant for model car

Young future programmers were once again guests at DSA. This time, they took part in the GoIT school competition, which was held again following a five-year break. Pupils with a passion for computer science from senior classes at secondary schools in Aachen and its surroundings were invited to join the competition.

For four days, the participants had the chance to exercise their creativity and logical thinking skills by using ultrasonic sensors to develop an autonomous parking assistant including car park recognition for a model car. In addition to an enthusiasm for computer science, basic programming skills were also required, ideally in C or C++. During the workshop, the young programmers were supported by the DSA apprentices and their trainers, focusing not on the perfect solution but rather on how to get there. In a final event, all participating groups presented their impressive results.

The event was organised by ANTalive e.V. (Angewandte Naturwissenschaften und Technik live erleben). ANTalive is funded as a zdi centre (zdi = Zukunft durch Innovation/Future through Innovation) by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia and by the local Job Centre. The aim of the initiative to get young people interested in science fits perfectly with DSA's many activities in this field.

Our thanks go to the organisers for their initiative in reviving the competition after the pandemic-related break, and we look forward to taking part again next year.