Curtin Sarawak engineering students participate in Malaysia Robot Contest

Miri – 8 June 2009 – Four third-year Electronics and Communication Engineering students of Curtin University of Technology, Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) recently represented their university in the Malaysia Robot Contest, a hotly-contested national event that pits teams of undergraduate engineering students from Malaysian institutions of higher learning and their robots against each other. The winners have the privilege of representing Malaysia in the international-level ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (RoboCon), which will be held in Tokyo this year.

The RoboCon 2009, the eighth in the series of contests and hosted by NHK-Japan, aims to promote friendship and healthy competitive drive among young people with similar interests, as well as assist in the growth of advanced engineering and broadcasting technologies in the Asia-Pacific region. Under a common set of rules, participants use their creativity and technological prowess to build robots that are required to perform specific tasks. Qualifying rounds are held in all Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) member countries each year.

The Malaysia Robot Contest was held at Stadium Melawati, Shah Alam and saw participation from over 60 institutions of higher learning such as universities, colleges and polytechnics all over Malaysia.

Themed ‘Travel Together for the Victory Drums,’ the contest is a game based on an imaginary journey of olden days using the kago palanquin. Teams must manipulate an automatic carrier robot with a manual carrier robot at its rear to carry an automatic ‘traveler robot’ in a kago along a preset course with the goal of completing the journey before the other teams. Various obstacles stand in the way, including a mountain pass and woods. The kago and ‘traveller robot’ must not be dropped, and the ‘traveller robot’ must beat three traditional Japanese ‘victory drums’ arranged vertically on a platform when it reaches the ‘Goal Zone’. The team whose robot beats all three drums first is the winner. Each match lasting three minutes is contested simultaneously by red and blue teams.

According to the Curtin Sarawak students who went by the team name ‘CUTIES’, it was a tremendous thrill to be able to participate in the contest. Designing and building their robots was also a great experience, they say. The process took some four months and involved conceptualising, designing and creating prototypes before building the actual robots. The eventual cost came to approximately RM10,000, which was partially covered by corporate sponsorship.

“We are very thankful to our lecturer, Terence Tan, who contributed a lot of useful ideas in the design stage. Lab officer Daniel Wong was a helpful team manager, assisting us to solve many technical problems. The team went through all sorts of challenges in carrying out the project but it was a great learning experience, especially applying technical solutions and practical theories that were not covered in class,” said team leader Sia Yee Yu.

According to lecturer Terence Tan, joining the contest was the students’ own initiative. “It was the first time for Curtin Sarawak, and we are very proud of our team’s efforts. We indeed encourage our students to participate in such activities as they provide excellent exposure for them, such that their learning is not limited to just books and classrooms,” he said.

For more information on Curtin Sarawak’s Electronic and Communication Engineering Department and School of Engineering and Science, call 085-443939 or visit the university’s website at www.curtin.edu.my.

The Curtin Sarawak team, CUTIES, and their robots.