Getting a feel of science and technology
ATWO-DAY robotics challenge organised recently by the Faculty of Engineering & Technology (FET) students of Multimedia University (MMU) gave a taste of what it would be like to take up Robotics and Automation at the university.
The Robotics Challenge 2018 (MMURC 2018) saw SMK Katholik, Melaka emerge as champion of Category A (Forms 1 to 3), and first runner-up, SM Gajah Berang.
For Category B (Forms 4 to 6) both the champion and first runner-up were teams from Sekolah Berasrama Penuh Integrasi Selandar.
A total of 34 teams from 22 secondary schools from all over Melaka participated in the competition, with each team comprising between two and four student competitors and one teacher advisor.
Each team is required to build its own robot, which is then tasked with circumnavigating a maze.
The MMURC 2018 was organised by FET, which also offers a Bachelor of Engineering Electronics degree, majoring in Robotics and Automation. The programme was funded by MMU National Marketing & Enrolment department.
MMU president Professor Datuk Dr Ahmad Rafi Mohamed Eshaq said the event was significant on many levels, considering that one of its main purposes was to expose and promote science and engineering creativity, especially among secondary school students.
“In the current workplace and market, technology is playing an increasingly larger role, and we wanted students to get a first-hand feel of science and engineering.
“We wanted these students to understand that, even if they did not win this competition, giving students confidence was crucial,” he said, since many students avoided the technical fields because they heard that it was too difficult.
“While scientific and engineering programmes are not the easiest to do, but with interest and dedication, they are certainly far from impossible,” he added.
Assisted by Roboforce, an organisation comprising MMU students and alumni, the participants got a feel for making robots by themselves, in preparation for this tournament.
During the competition, participants also involved in the activities and managed to apply what they learned during the workshop.
Working as teams, they finetuned their respective robots and did their best.