Following the success of last year's event, SLIIT RoboFest 2011, organised by the Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering at SLIIT promises even more thrills this year with a larger line up of participants and exciting prizes. The competition will be held at the SLIIT Malabe Campus on September 15 and 16 from 9am to 6pm.

RoboFest is an annual robotic competition geared to exhibit the Robot design talents of students and participants from around the country. Competitors are required to build a Robot that can perform a task according to the given criteria, which includes navigating their robot to the goal by detecting the arrows placed on the platform while avoiding the obstacles. This year's competition will broaden its scope to include more categories where participants from universities and schools can showcase their talents and skills through this event. An open category has also been introduced this year for the general public to participate in the competition.

The University Competition is open to students of any university or any university level degree awarding institute. Teams must comprise 5 members in which all the members must be from the same institution. The teams must then design and build a robot that is capable of navigating through an obstacle course along a designated path. The contest will consist of a preliminary competition, in which 10 finalists will be selected, and move on to the final round, in which Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be awarded. The first prize winner will be awarded Rs. 65,000, second prize Rs. 40,000 and third prize Rs. 20,000.

RoboFest 2011 will include a School Competition, open to students from schools island-wide. Participants will design and implement a mobile robot capable of navigating a play field along a straight path. Winners of this category will also be awarded the following cash prizes; Rs. 50,000 (Gold), Rs. 25,000 (Silver), and Rs. 10,000 (Bronze). The Open competition is open to the general public, and participants will not be given a particular robot designing objective. Instead, they will be free to design a robot according to their knowledge and skill level. The most innovative, creative and useful robot design will be adjudged the winner by a panel of judges. The winner of this event will receive a cash prize of Rs. 100,000.

Professor S. Karunaratne, Chairman of SLIIT observed that "RoboFest would spark the interest of school and university level students as well as the public to the broad scope this field presents. It provides a platform to showcase the skills students derive from their studies, and we are pleased to open the competition to the public and encourage more people to participate in activities of this nature". President and CEO of SLIIT Professor Lalith Gamage noted that this competition also "creates the ideal platform for building teamwork and communication skills. We place focus on competitions and events such as this which will enable students to apply their knowledge and skills in a practical manner".

Dr. Malitha Wijesundara, Head of the Electronic and Computer Engineering Department at SLIIT states that "This year's event will be bigger and more exciting as a larger number of participants will be given a chance to participate in the competition by combining the practical application of science and technology with the fun, intense energy and excitement of a championship-sporting event".

"RoboFest 2011 will help to popularize the robotic knowledge among university and school students. In the meantime, the open competition will provide an opportunity to advance robot designers to test their talents" enthused Dr. Pradeep Abeygunawardhana, Head/SLIIT Research Centre, and Coordinator for SLIIT RoboFest 2011.