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Project Name: Intelligent Robot
Students Involved: Praveen Anthony Ramanayake, Daljith Madushanka
Kuruppu,
Samaraweera Arachchige Gayan Kanish
Supervisor: D
Prasanna Kumar
The Singapore Robotics Games (SRG) is seen as one of the most
prestigious engineering competitions in the local engineering scene, organised
in cooperation with IEEE Robotics and automation Society Singapore Chapter and
supported by ITE, Robotic Games Society (Singapore), NUS and NTU and the
polytechnics (including Republic Polytechnic). Since its inception in 1998, SRG
is considered as the premier competition that provides the benchmark for robotic
devices. All institutes work towards this benchmark while competing with each
other to vie for top honours in various categories (15 competitions in SRG
2007).
Republic Polytechnic has been involved in SRG since 2003, and
this year, besides doubling up as hosts for the event, is the first time that we
have made a breakthrough – this feat is made even more amazing by the fact that
RP had only ONE robot entered for the event! Our robot (ScaraMax) won
the BRONZE medal in the Intelligent Robot Competition, beating out many more
experienced teams. 22 teams from all the polytechnics and ITEs participated in
this competition – RP(1), NYP(4), SP(5), TP(2), NP(5), ITEs(5).
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Our team, lead by Prasanna Kumar (SEG) and his
team of FYP students (Praveen Anthony Ramanayake, Daljith Madushanka
Kuruppu, Samaraweera Arachchige Gayan Kanish), had worked tirelessly
for a year, their efforts culminating in this prize winning effort
at SRG 2007. |
The competition involved navigating a platform and
successfully sorting and placing 15 colored balls into the correct containers.
This seemingly simple (human) task actually took months of conceptualization,
preparation, and sleepless nights to achieve and the team overcame tremendous
odds to succeed.
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Drawing from the experience, Prasanna commented,
“Because of the complexity of the robot model, there were initial
concerns that we would not be able to pull it off, but the results
speak for themselves. I am immensely proud of our achievements and
am heartened to see that our efforts have paid off.” |
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Intelligent Robot Platform |
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However, the process was not smooth-sailing
throughout. A couple of months before the competition, the robot
had stalled completely – it would not run regardless of the tests
carried out. The team spent two weeks trying to troubleshoot the
problem, refusing to give up even when all options looked to be
exhausted. With a bit of luck and a lot of determination, they
finally managed to solve the problem and it was “all systems go”.
What made this even more amazing was that our students, with no
formal mechanical engineering training, managed to PBL the problem
and solve it! In the days leading up to the competition, tests and
demonstrations were carried out and the team felt confident of their
chances. |
Gayan making the final tunings to ScaraMax |
On the day of the competition – 17 Jan 2007, the team was
determined to put up a good show for everyone as we were on home ground. With
the pressure mounting and the tension building, the team relied on good
communication, coordination and confidence in their robot to pull through. We
were the 6th team to go out (out of 22 teams) and our robot managed to
successful place 10 balls in 1min 20sec. We were slightly discouraged by the
result as we did not manage to collect all the balls, and with 16 teams to go,
we kept our fingers crossed that somehow our result would be sufficient. One
after another, the robots came and went, but none of them were be able to better
our result.
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(From left) Daljith,
Prasanna, Anthony, and Gayan |
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It was down to the last robot and that was all
that was standing between RP and its first medal at the Singapore
Robotics Games. It looked to be a formidable obstacle as the robot
successfully collected and sorted all 15 balls with its sucking
mechanism. Just as it seemed that we would have to wait another year
to collect our first medal, the robot faltered, and its mis-positioning
resulted in a “crash” (unable to complete its task of dropping the
balls into the appropriate compartments). In the rules of the
competition, in a “crash” situation, a robot is allowed 3 chances to
restart – but the robot is only allowed to pick up the remaining
balls (those not collected in the previous attempt). However, as
this robot managed to collect all the balls in the first attempt,
there were no more balls to collect, and hence, no re-attempt! The
elation and pride could be felt throughout Agora Hall 1 as Republic
Polytechnic collected its first medal ever!
With only one robot in the competition, we
overcame the odds that were stacked heavily against us and
delivered. After 5 years of struggle, we finally made our mark in
SRG and the efforts of our staff and students in SEG have paid off.
Prasanna adds, “In the months leading up to the
competition, I even had nightmares about our robot! But all our
hard work has paid off, and the students who worked tirelessly on
their FYP are also reaping the results of their determination. |
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Raring to go to the
competition hall |
This would not have been possible without the
unwavering support of Yew Chan who gave us the freedom and confidence to pursue
this endeavour. It makes me (and my team) very proud to be able to deliver this
achievement for SEG! We hope to build on this achievement and come back next
year, stronger and better!”
Our congratulations go out to SEG and the winning team members of ScaraMax!
You have done RP proud!
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