| Universiti Putra Malaysia

UPM Engineering Students Emerge Champs in Robotic Competition

By Noor Eszereen Juferi


BANGI, 24 February – A team of engineering students of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) beat more than 50 other teams to emerge as the overall champions at a national level robotic competition.

The robot dubbed “Putrabot-X” was invented by Mohd Hasimi Mohd Sidek, Mohamad Hafizi Kasman, Mohamad Asmi Ashaari and Muhammad Azizi Md Idruss, all electrical and electronic engineering students from the Engineering Faculty of UPM.

They called themselves “Putra X” for the 7th edition of the annual competition that was sponsored by the giant utility corporation Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and organised by Universiti Tenaga Nasional (Uniten).

Team leader Mohd Hasimi said they invented the robot on a shoe-string budget of RM1,000 and the small  tanker-like robot can be made to carry out tasks or maintenance work in high-risk areas, like hazardous and radioactive chemical spills.

Although they were exhausted from the challenge, they were delighted with their victory over the other teams including those from itiTenagaNasional (UNITEN) and Universiti Malaya (UM).

They were adjudged winners in two out of three rounds, collecting 450 points which also led them to clinch the Best Engineering Award.

With the victory, Putra-X bagged RM3500 cash prize, a certificate of participation and a trophy.

Mohd Hasimi said what probably made their robot win was the special weapon feature that was not found in the other teams’ robotic inventions.

“We were beaten last year and winning the title this year certainly made up for the disappointment,” he said when met right after the prize-giving ceremony.

Sixty teams including Putra-X took part under the open category of the competition aimed at nurturing creavitiy in technology and robotic engineering among the younger generation.  Fifty teams from schools all over the country also took part in the three-day competition.

– UPM/kgo


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