Robots ‘come to life’ in tech challenge
View(s):By Shaveen Jeewandara
“Sri Lankan Robotics Challenge 2012 (SLRC)” – the Sri Lanka leg of the ‘Techfest – International Robotics Challenge 2013’, presented by the The E-club of the University of Moratuwa saw its grand finale, on December 14 , where school-goers as well as university students took their machines to the test in a battle of the electronic wits.
“Our aim was to make this more than just another robot competition, we aspired for it to provide the platform to the tech savvy youth of the country to demonstrate their skills in an international standard robotics competition”, says Tharindu Adikari, of the Robotics Challenge organising committee, mentioning that spirits were high going into a project of this nature, and it prevailed.
The University of Moratuwa, being the country’s leading higher education institute for engineering, has always taken the forefront in the promotion of competitions of this nature, while the partnership with Techfest India has been a bold step that was taken this year. The glowing incentive of this year’s leg was the rare opportunity to participate in the ‘Techfest-International Robotics Challenge- 2013’, which will be held in Mumbai, India.
This grand event, held for the 16th consecutive time will be witnessed by thousands of technological enthusiasts from January 3-5, at IIT Bombay and all the winners will be entitled to prizes worth INR 450,000 in total – needless to say this fuelled the motivation of the geniuses on the day.
The schools category – Tyrobots, was introduced in the hope of guiding and mentoring young blood in the forays of robotics and inspiring them to achieve greater heights.
A closely competed finals between three stalwart schools, all hailing from Galle was the highlight of the day, with Vidyaloka College securing first place, with St. Aloysius’ College Place, and Mahinda College coming in second and third respectively.
The main event or rather expressively dubbed ‘Transformers’ saw students from the University of Moratuwa, the Open University and SLIIT battling it out on the grid. The robots were trained to carry out mechanical objectives, and displayed immaculate co-ordination, however more innovation on the part of the creators would have added more colour to the proceedings.
That being said the robots gave out a good show as they scampered their way to glory. The eventual winners were a collaboration of the Open University and SLITT which comprised of Kasun Rathnapala, Chathushka Hendalage, Channa Pinnawalage, Vithakshana Pathirathna, and Uddhika Alawatta.
While Diunuge Buddhika Wijesinghe Lakshitha Wijesinghe, Chamith Wijesinghe, Anuruddha Premalal, Gunindu Jayawardhana, and Chamika Gamage of the University of Moratuwa coming in second place.
Also from the University of Moratuwa, securing third place was the team comprising of Ishanga Rukshan, Milinda Fernando, Maduranga Siriwardena, Supun Tharanga, Chamila Wijayarathna and Dimuthu Upeksha.The SLRC was sponsored by Brandix Lanka Limited, and the Management graced the occasion with their presence.The winners of the University leg will get direct entry into International Robotics Challenge Grand Finale which will be held during Techfest at IIT Bombay, to be held in January the coming year.
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