Bangkok--4 Apr--MTEC
The National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC) under the supervision of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), the Ministry of Science and Technology, is cooperating with Chulalongkorn University to organize the Robot Design Contest (RDC) 2008 after the success of the International Design Contest RoBoCon 2007, known as IDC RoBoCon, last year. The RDC 2008 aims to search for the talented Thai engineering students to join the IDC RoBoCon 2008 in Brazil. Both organizing institutions are confident of the potential of Thai students and hope to use the international arena as the venue for sharing engineering knowledge. Last year Thailand successfully hosted and joined, for thefirst time, the IDC RoBoCon 2007 during the National Science Week at BITEC, Bang Na. The event has added the name of Thailand to the existing 7 member countries, namely, Japan, USA, Germany, UK, France, Brazil and South Korea. To continue its success in a robot design contest, Thailand will organize its first national robot contest named the Robot Design Contest 2008. The organizing agencies are the National Metal and Materials Technology Center (MTEC) under the supervision of the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, with sponsorship from Pantip Plaza. Mr. Wutthipong Chaisang, Minister of Science and Technology, said “I am really glad to see all parties help develop Thai youths to be confident in expressing their opinions, and prepare an arena for them to test their knowledge and what they have learned in the classroom. We must admit that earlier we had few contests. Therefore, teachers and the related parties should find arenas for youths to join. I believe that joining an international contest is a worthwhile experience for the winning students because knowledge does not come from paper, but from practical experience.” Associate Prof. Dr. Werasak Udomkichdecha, MTEC Director, as the president of the organizing committee, noted that the objective of the IDC RoBoCon 2008 is to develop skills in designing and building robots, to form relationship among Thai students from various institutions, and to promote the academic fields of engineering and robotics. The format of the RDC 2008 will be the same as that of the IDC RoBoCon. That is, there are 2 weeks for contestants to design and build a robot by using preset materials and equipment to answer the given topic. The winners of the final match will become representatives to join the international contest. All the participating teams are groups of students from different universities including Chulalongkorn University, Thammasat University, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, Mahidol University, Kasetsart University, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Suranaree University of Technology, Mahanakorn University of Technology, and Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology. There will be 11 teams with 4 members each, or 44 students in total. Teams are formed by drawing a lot so that each team will have students from several universities, promoting the students’ skill in collaboration. In addition, the contest provides a good opportunity for participants to apply their knowledge and skills in designing robots. In the international contest, or IDC RoBoCon 2008, each team will consist of students from different countries, which is an appeal of the contest. The national contest will commence with the theoretical and practical training on the process of designing and building robots for teams of mixed institutions from April 1 to 23, 2008 at the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University. The seeding contest will begin from April 24 to May 12 at the same venue as the training. The final match will be organized on May 13, 2008 at Pantip Hall, on the first floor of Pantip Plaza. Associate Prof. Dr. Boonsom Lerdhirunwong, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, stated that the university supports the IDC RoBoCon because the contest has long been organized continuously in the seven member countries. The contest provides a good opportunity for representative students to develop their skills in applying the engineering knowledge. Therefore, it is beneficial for Thai students as well to broaden their experience and to develop their skills in robotics. This will help the country continuously produce a new generation of technology people. Actually, Thai youths are as good as those in other countries in the field of robotics. The match is exciting because the participating teams need to answer the given topic and use their judgment skills in designing robots to overcome preset obstacles and evade other contestants’ robots in a limited time of one minute. The topic for this year will be about global warming. So let’s see how we will prevent such environment problem. Ms. Hatairatch Charoenkulvanich and Mr. Sukhum Sattaratnamai, students of the Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, who joined the IDC RoBoCon 2007, expressed their opinion that the international robot design contest is an important competition where youths can apply their knowledge and skills, and learn to work with other students from different countries. Some students do not speak English as their mother tongue. Therefore, language barrier and different points of view were obstacles during the contest. But with friendship, smiles, and sign language, the representative could complete the contest. It is a worthwhile experience that we cannot gain from other contests. The national contest this year is a good chance for the Thai representatives who will join the contest in Brazil. For updates on the contest and rules, please visit http://www.mtec.or.th/RDC2008
For more information, please contact Public Relations and Exhibition Kajonsak Sa-nguansat, Public Relations, MTEC Tel. 02-5646500 Ext. 4519, 081-6229608 Or Public Relations Consultant Warunee Apiraksukhumal (Wa) Tel. 08 1867 7789 Apitsara Thamwichai (Ying) Tel. 08 7829 3922