On September 17th, Governor Manuel Rosales Guerrero presented “SIKI”, the robot that will represent Team Venezuela at the FIRST Global Challenge 2024 Robotics and Artificial Intelligence World Cup in Greece. The challenge it faces is even greater than last year: to revalidate the world championship that the young people of the Venezuelan team brought to Zulia State in 2023.
Before an excited and expectant audience, the regional leader recalled how in the nineties “Deep Blue”, the supercomputer designed by the IBM engineering team, was defeated in a chess tournament by the then world champion and grandmaster, Gary Kasparov. However, a year later, “Deeper Blue” would arrive with greater processing power, defeating Kasparov and opening a door that would never be closed: that of technological supremacy.
“In the digital world we are at unknown frontiers,” said Rosales. “But they will be just that: frontiers. Now exciting times are coming. We will debate the role of the human being in many spaces and types of activities and that will be good, since, as has always happened, we have to conquer the new spaces that technology will offer us,” he added.
Unprecedented achievement
Rosales had words for the feat achieved by the Team Venezuela in 2023: “The key to all this is not in what is happening today,” he said, “but in what we are able to identify in the digital world. That is why the feat of our boys in Singapore leaves no doubt that all this effort has been worth it. Moreover, he continued, I would say that thanks to our young people, today I feel more inspired than ever to continue fighting for the dream of turning Zulia, steeped in technology, into the most thriving region in Venezuela.”
The governor asked for applause and support for the mentors of this project: Emanuel Andrade, Samuel Paz, María Victoria Uzcátegui, Paula Ferray, Andrés Rincón, Elio Urdaneta and Sebastián Guadagnini. Likewise for the champions Sofía Parra, Marcela Gómez, Rosa Wong, Antonio Colina, Gabriel Sánchez and Alex Calimán. All were applauded by the present audience.
Study and training
Rosales stressed the importance of education, of dreaming and of creating accordingly. It is thanks to this technological vision that the “Héctor Rafael Rojas” Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics was created, the first and so far the only one of its kind in Venezuela. “The enthusiasm and the team that participate in the ‘Héctor Rojas’ tell us that, although the Singapore champions set the bar very high, they will go on to Greece to defend the Venezuelan flag,” he said excitedly.
“SIKI” represents innovation, creativity and the technological prowess of Venezuela. An ingenuity that has to expand, to make itself known: “we have come to present them here in the Plaza Baralt in Maracaibo because we do not want Robotics to remain locked up within four walls” added Rosales. “Our plan is for thousands of children and adolescents from the neighborhoods and urbanizations to become the geniuses of the future and to follow in the footsteps of this generation that created Catatumbo to compete in Switzerland, and KASHI to amaze the planet in Singapore.”
Fire and future
“SIKI” means FIRE in Wayuunaiki, and was named in this way because of the theme chosen in Greece: “Feeding the Future.” The name was chosen because the mastery of fire represented one of the most transcendental changes in human evolution. Furthermore, in Greek mythology, the Titan Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it to men to use.
“Fire is a symbol of change, purification and sacrifice, and it is also a magical symbol. Our robot is the fire that embraces technology and embodies the passion of the National Team that will represent us in Athens in ten days,” said the Governor before encouraging the young people with words full of meaning: “Glory awaits you in Athens… Go with that burning flame, with God and Chinita as guides!”. Press Release
