Nearly 300 teams from 62 universities and colleges took part in the qualifier round of the Robocon Vietnam 2009 contest. Thirty-two teams will participate in the final round in the central city of Hue city from May 11-17.

The 32 teams will compete for the national championship to represent the country at the Asia-Pacific Robocon 2009 in Japan in August.

Launched in 2002, the 8^th Robocon Vietnam 2009 has attracted the highest number of participants.

The theme of this year’s Robocon is “Travel together for the victory drums”, based on Japan’s Kago palanquin procession rituals. Two robots have to carry a palanquin named Kago through barricades. It is an absolute victory if the robot sitting on the palanquin beats the target drum three times.

The best times of Vietnamese teams in the qualifier round were 45-60 seconds to beat the target drum three times. Compared to foreign teams, to become the champion for the fourth time, Vietnam has to achieve 30-40 seconds.

Dr. Ngo Thai Tri, chief juryman of Robocon Vietnam 2009, said that this year’s contest doesn’t focus on face-to-face competition, but the performance of technology. The requirements for robots are safety, stability, accuracy, high speed and the intelligence and skill of the controllers. The combination between the controllers and robots is a focus of Robocon 2009.

Answering the question of why simple robots are still being used at the 8^th Robocon contest, not human-shaped ones, Pham Viet Tien, the vice chief of the organising board, explained that the goal of Robocon is stimulating students’ passion and creativeness, not directing them to develop complicated robots.

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 from every university and college in the Asia-Pacific region.

Huyen Chi