Big challenges for small robots
The 4th Robofest competition organised by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT), gave students from around the country an opportunity to showcase their robot design talents. The participants displayed a mix of technical knowledge infused with dedication, commitment and a ‘never-give-up’ attitude.
Pix: Indika Handuwala
The university level competitors had to make their robots follow a path, pick up an object and climb a set of stairs. This proved to be a daunting task as some robots got confused, failed to pick up the object and stalled midway up the stair climb. But the creators displayed resilience as they continued pushing their robot to the edge – ultimately the objective was achieved.
Being a brainchild of the Dean of the Faculty of Computing, Dr. Malitha Wijesundara, the competition started back in 2010. The standards and numbers of participation have since increased quite drastically, says Senior Lecturer Dr. Lasantha Seneviratne. “There is a significant increase in the participants from outstation schools.” he tells us. “This is very encouraging and as they are packed with potential.” Dr. Seneviratne says that much knowledge was bestowed upon the students on the suburbs and outside of Colombo by virtue of the workshops held in Horana, Kurunegala, Trincomalee and Jaffna.
School level competitors were required to build a mobile robot that had to carry out line-following commands.
With the tricky part being the navigation around a square junction. The preliminary competition was attended by over 100 schools from which 10 finalists were selected for the final round. Mahinda College Galle, S. Thomas’ College Matara, and St. Mary’s College Kegalle took away the first, second and third places respectively, while Maliyadeva College Kurunegala, St. Joseph’s College Batawala, Richmond College Galle, D.S. Senanayake College Colombo, and Vidyartha College Kandy made up the rest of the top ten.
Dr. Lasantha Seneviratne
The University competition saw robots carrying out the basic line-following feat, but in addition they had to pick up an object and climb a set of stairs. The robots tumbled and fell, got back up and whizzed to their objective. The team from SLIIT, with their robot ‘SLASH’ secured the third place. The team comprised Harini Pinnawalage, Hasun Muwanella, Chamath Meegama, Ruvindu De Silva and Praneeth Paranavithana. “Being first years, we had to face many challenges in coming up with a feasible design,” says the leader of the team, Harini.
“But everyone chipped in and we’re happy with how far we’ve come”, she added. Rajika Rathnayake, Sameera Ruwandika and Isuru Samaratunga from the ICBT Campus, Kandy are no newcomers to the field. Equalling their feats from last year, their robot ‘Hades’ battled its way to the second position this time around too. Winning the coveted title and Rs. 6,5000 worth of prize money, ‘Interesect 4.0’ built by Jayasanka Ranaweera, Hasantha Kumarapeli, Ravishan Kahanadawala, Dulshan Abayaratne and Charith Randika put up the best show of the event. Speaking to the Mirror Magazine, the team said the ultimate challenge was not in the competition itself, but rather the run-up to it. The team encouraged youngsters to get involved in robotics.
comments powered by Disqus