National Taiwan University (NTU) teams were the big winners in the 2009 National Robotics Contest at the Taipei International Robot Show, winning two of the three championships, a competition sponsor said yesterday.
The contest was divided into three themes: home service robots, intelligent robotic arms and security robots. The aim of the event was to spur the development of the robot industry in Taiwan by encouraging student creativity and stimulating academic and industry cooperation.
A total of 102 teams competed for prize money totaling NT$3.18 million (US$971,140).
Team Rambo from NTU won the Intelligent Security Robot Contest sponsored by Taiwan Shin Kong Security, while Team Adam won the Intelligent Robotic Arm Contest sponsored by Hiwin Technologies Corp.
Team Rambo, which won the championship, said its robot was tailor-made for the competition. It is a multi-sensor, fusion-based, wheeled robot equipped with remote control, motion planning, obstacle avoidance, image transmitting and processing, automatic message sending, environment detection and voice detection. It also detects unauthorized intruders.
Taiwanese students have displayed an increasing expertise in robot technology, winning seven awards at the World Robot Olympiad in 2007 and 12 medals at an international mini-robot contest in Japan last year.
The 2009 National Robotics Contest was sponsored by the Industrial Development Bureau, the Precision Machinery Research Development Center, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Education.
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