The school's "Mechanik TEAM" Robotics Club was established at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year at ZSM in Rzeszów. Although it has only been officially operating for a short time, its roots date back to the earlier activities of the school's students, who passionately participated in RoboLab classes – a Rzeszów educational program promoting robotics and modern technologies. There, step by step, they explored the world of microcontrollers, sensors, and drives, learning how to build something truly extraordinary from seemingly ordinary components.
Over time, this group evolved into a team of true enthusiasts – students united by a common dream: to create their own robot and test themselves in professional competitions. Thus, the idea was born to participate in the prestigious X-Challenge 2024 competition, the Task Hunters competition, where participants had to design a machine capable of performing specific tasks in a specially prepared arena.
The supervisor and mentor for the entire project was dr Stanisław Topolewicz – a computer science teacher who has been passionate about robotics, Arduino and Raspberry Pi platforms, and 3D printing for years. His knowledge and support proved invaluable – both in creating the robot concepts and during the long hours spent testing, programming, and improving the designs.
Thanks to this cooperation and the skills previously acquired in RoboLab, the "Papiernicy" team was created, which debuted at the X-Challenge 2024 competition and – despite huge competition – took 10th place out of 17 teams. It was a first, but very promising step.
Soon after, it was time for next challenges. We partnered with the Podkarpackie Innovation Incubator (PCI), which enabled us to build a new, more advanced robot – this time with the ability to move both remotely and partially autonomously. At the same time, three members of the group formed a team that entered the "Naukolatek" competition with their original project "Using Artificial Intelligence in Robot Navigation". The project passed the elimination stage and obtained financing, which allowed us to purchase a 3D printer and filament, and thus to implement our most complex design: an autonomous robot with the SLAM and ROS2 system.
We presented our robots not only during competitions, but also at educational and popular science events. We took part in "ZSM Open Days", "Rzeszów Science and Technology Picnic - POWER of Explorers", as well as in the "Mathematical Fusion" conference, where we talked about our projects and inspired others to act.
We also took part in the 9th Edition of the National Competition for Young Engineers, where our students won first place for the project Ragnar – a remotely controlled robot!
We also received tremendous support from the school principal, Sławomir Świetlik, and the parents of our members, thanks to which we were able to acquire—and personally renovate—a special room designated as a robotics club workshop. This is where we currently design, print, and assemble our designs, testing new ideas and learning through practice.
Plans for the future? Ambitious, but very realistic! We want to participate in more competitions and contests, develop our skills, build increasingly complex and intelligent robots, and above all, have fun and enjoy it. Because, after all, this is how future engineers are born.