Moving through the pitch with seamless precision the miniature power-pack whirls around a few times, takes aim, and strikes – GOAL! If it had arms and legs they would undoubtedly be flaying in the air, as the mechanized Ronaldo gets back in position.
Watching this robotic version of man’s most loved game is indeed a thrill, but the real feat lies behind tireless hours of hard work and determination by the young minds who participated in at ‘Robogames 2011’, held by the Institution of Engineers Sri Lanka (IESL).
The competition was held recently at the University of Moratuwa, and teams from the University Moratwa itself, along with students from the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, University of Colombo, University of Ruhuna, and the University of Wellasa participated.
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| Undergraduate participants at the ‘Robogames’. Pic by Indika Handuwala |
The annual event was a hit this year owing to the success of ‘Robo Soccer’. The Mirror spoke to the winners of the undergraduate category on their encounters with the robotic kind.
“I didn’t know anything about Robotics, or electronics for that matter, until I came to University,” says a beaming Maleen, the proud captain of ‘TBA’, the winning team. “We gained our knowledge solely through experience, and achieved our ultimate goal,” he adds while an invariable smile darts across his face.
TBA won the inaugural ‘Robo soccer’ championship and consisted of Maleen Abeydeera, Isuru Gunasekara, Kasun Athukorala, Prabath Gallage and Prabudda Geekiyanage. “People think that Robotics is a bit like black magic or rocket science, but what we experienced was a lot different,” states Manupa Karunaratne, captain of ‘Five Freaks’, the team that emerged Runners-Up. “Robotics like anything else is possible if you put your heart and soul into it.” The curiously named ‘Five Freaks’, comprised - Geethan Karunarathne, Kishan Thalawaththa, Heshan Randika, Nevamal Perera, and Manupa himself.
Coming in third place was ‘Ironhide’, captained by Dakshina Bandara Mudunkotuwa, along with Hasith Ishara, Nisal Panagoda, L. Lajanugen and Ashan Shanaka.
“The competitors had to build a robot operated autonomously with the help of a computer that runs an artificial intelligence algorithm,” says Himeshi De Silva, the media co-ordinator for ‘Robogames’. “It was quite a challenging task for the participants as they had to master programming, video and image processing as well as electronics and mechanical design,” she adds. The robotic Ronaldo resembles a box of not more than half a foot in dimension.
However, taking a peep into its interior takes you to a realm of motors, sensors and complicated circuitry. The robot is entirely automated and works on a feedback basis, which means a video feed of the soccer arena is provided from a birds eye view to the computer, it analyses the robots position, makes a decision and guides the robot to a striking position. An interesting aspect of the competition was that usually the winning robot would be decided by the judges, but in this instance, the robots had to battle it out.
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| Robotic soccer. |
Apart from their sheer talent, these youngsters share a common sense of modesty amongst themselves as they speak to the Mirror. “We didn’t think we could achieve this target at the beginning, but it was a learning process,” says Maleen. “The interesting part about this competition was that we didn’t have to build the stereotypical robot,” he says, noting that people tend to limit their view of student-made robots to usual tasks such as obstacle avoidance, or climbing a flight of stairs.
When questioned about the challenges, it was pointed out that Sri Lanka does not have the necessary equipment and electronic parts needed. “We had to ship all the equipment, and we ended up giving away a lot of money to taxes and shipping costs.” “Our only request is to take steps to make the needed equipment available in Sri Lanka, it would be immensely beneficial, to us and all students interested in robotics,” Manupa reiterates. “We had to pool in a lot of money for this project, but it cannot be equaled to the satisfaction gained by constructing a successful robot.”
IESL also took the initiative to host the School category competition of ‘Robo Games 2011’, which was held at the TECHNO Exhibition recently. “Many students only possess the theoretical knowledge but it is the practical side that counts”, says Dakshina, “To anybody who is interested in robotics, the only advice we can give you is to go ahead with what you have, the pieces will fall in place as you go along, 90% of success comes from practical
experience.” |
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