The qualifier round of Robocon 2009 in the southern region closed on April 10 at the Rach Mieu Sports Centre, HCM City; 12 winners will enter the final round in Hue city this May.

The qualifier contest of the southern region attracted 110 teams from technological universities and colleges in southern provinces. Of the 12 teams which were chosen for the final round, seven come from Lac Hong University, two from the HCM City Technological Teacher Training University, and one each from the HCM City Polytechnic, the Vocational Training College No. 8, and the Technological and Economic College.

The HCM City Department of Science and Technology presented VND10 million to each of the 12 winning teams.

The contest took place from April 6-10. The topic of this year’s Robocon is “Travel together for the victory drums”.

Up to 300 teams from universities and colleges throughout the country have gathered in the central city of Da Nang, HCM City and Hanoi to take part in the qualifier round of Robocon Vietnam 2009 in April to choose the best 32 teams for the national final round in the central city of Hue from May 11-17. The final round will be aired live on VTV2 channel at 8pm every day.

The champion will represent Vietnam at the Asia-Pacific Robocon 2009 in Tokyo, Japan in August 2009. This year’s international Robocon contest will be based on Japan’s Kago palanquin procession rituals. Two robots will have to carry a palanquin named Kago through barricades. It will be an absolute victory if the robot sitting on the palanquin beats the target drum three times.

Vietnam ROBOCON 2009 is organised by Vietnam Television (VTV) and sponsored by the Toyota Motor Vietnam Co.

First appearing in 2003, ROBOCON has become an annual contest for students in the field of technology in every university and college in the Asia-Pacific region.

Khoi Nguyen