One man, many missions

The next generation also comes from within his own family. He inspired his stepson Abduazim to pursue a career path in electrical engineering – first vocational training, then university studies in Zwickau. His younger son Kurt is already involved as well. Together with school friends, Kurt is forming a VDE team at the national World Robot Olympiad competition for the fourth time this year, with Uwe Baumbach serving as coach. Since January, they have been working on the assigned missions; at the end of May, their self-built and programmed robots will be presented at the regional competition. As in previous years, VDE Chemnitz is once again a key partner in the accompanying program. Baumbach is pleased to represent VDE at this popular youth competition – though for him, the logo itself is not the main point. “It doesn’t have to say VDE in big letters everywhere. What matters to me is inspiring children from elementary school onward to take an interest in electrical and information engineering.” He finds it unfortunate that many people underestimate children’s abilities and that subjects like math and physics are often introduced as boring. “When you apply the material to concrete examples, they pick it up very quickly,” he says from experience.

As coach of the robotics team, he still has one dream: that the boys will place among the top teams at the German WRO final and earn the chance to compete internationally. “In the first two years, we were close with a sixth-place finish,” he says. “But the competition is tough.” And with participation numbers rising, it continues to grow – surely a success to which Uwe Baumbach himself has contributed. 