The final rounds of the 2023 IEEE Region 10 Robotics Competition were held on 09 – 10 December at the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. The IEEE Thailand Section hosted the event and made superb arrangements for the teams to pitch their projects in the auditorium and demonstrate them to the judges in the display area.
A team of very dedicated local volunteers under the leadership of Prof. Supavadee Aramvith and Dr. Khanita Duangchaemkarn made the program run very smoothly. A robotics hands-on workshop for school children was also held on this occasion in which 50 students from six local schools participated – thanks to Assist. Prof. Ronnapee Chaichaowarat for his tremendous work in organizing the workshop.
Three keynote speakers also gave excellent talks to stimulate enthusiasm and interest among all the participants.
IEEE R10 Director Prof Lance Fung, R10 Director-Elect Prof Takako Hashimoto, and several academics of the Chulalongkorn University and Thailand Section officers attended the event. In his opening address, Prof. Fung welcomed all the participants and guests and encouraged students to continue with their passion for science and technology to develop innovative solutions to problems faced by local communities.
Under Professor Thavida Maneewarn’s leadership, the Thailand Section arranged a panel of local robotics experts as judges. All the judges did a thorough job of assessments. They visited the booth of each team quizzed them about their projects and selected the winners for this year’s competition as follows:
First Prize: Team Hawkeye, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology, Bangladesh
Project: The Aerial Warrior: Fighting against mosquito menace.
Second Prize: Team Latency Zero, Mar Anthanasius College of Engineering Kothamamgalam, Kerala, India
Project: Multipurpose Autonomous Navigation Robot.
Third Prize: Team WALL-ieee, Curtin University, Sarawak, Malaysia
Project: A self-waste management Omnibot with pest-control mechanism in public areas.
Heartiest Congratulations to all three winners. All the participating teams presented very innovative and technically sound robotic projects to address various issues related to climate change. It was a quite challenging job for the judges to pick the top three winners. The photographs of the final rounds and videos of submitted projects are available on the competition website (https://robocomp.ieeer10.org).
The IEEE Region 10 Robotics Competition aims to ignite passion among young IEEE members, retain current members, attract new members, and promote STEM education among the younger generation. The 2024 R10 Robotics Competition is now open and the final rounds will be held in August 2024 in Tokyo, Japan. The website has been updated for next year’s competition. The competition is open to IEEE student members and graduate members. R10 funding will also be available for Sections and Subsections to (a) conduct local robotics activities to select up to two best teams to represent them in the competition and (b) hold hands-on robotics workshops for school children to kindle interest in STEM subjects.
