Young, ambitious talents assemble for international skills competition

The second Belt and Road International Skills Competition (BRISC) opened in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality on June 24. The three-day event will see 190 competitors, with an average age of 22, from 61 countries and regions compete in 18 categories.

Many people from countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative compete in the event. [Photo provided to Liangjiang New Area Media Center]

Tumelo Rabolinyane, 15, from Lesotho, is the youngest competitor this year. He has been involved in robotics since the robotic programming course he joined last year and has already participated in several international competitions.

In this year's BRISC, Tumelo will compete in the Industrial Robot System Operation competition. He signed up for the competition with the main goal of strengthening his robotics skills, and he hopes the experience will increase his chance of getting into a better university, as he plans to pursue further education in robotics.

Tumelo said he loves robotics because it involves a wide range of fields, such as electronic engineering and computer sciences, and can lead to surprising outcomes. He also said he wants to incorporate automotive engineering into robotics and plans to start his own business in the future.

In the Industrial Robot System Operation competition, Gbassay T. Kallon from Liberia stands out as one of only two female competitors.

As a computer science student, Gbassay found robotics a more practical field. She said it's a great feeling when you build a robot and give it an instruction, and it reacts instantly.

"I am learning something very new here (in the competition), something I haven't been taught before. It gives me the urge to teach people at home when I go back to my country," said Gbassay. She hopes to start her own company, build robots, and inspire more women to enter the field.