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From July 5th to July 8th, under the guidance of the China Higher Education Society and the Strategic Consulting Center of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the 22nd ROBOCON was hosted by the National College Robot Contest Organizing Committee, supported by the National Applied Technology Colleges (Universities) Alliance and Shandong Radio and Television Station. The event took place at the Nanjing University of Science and Technology's Jiangyin Campus Gymnasium in Jiangyin, Jiangsu Province.
"The competition is complex and challenging, involving interdisciplinary collaboration. We face many structural and mechanical issues. Overall, the main challenge is to make the robots achieve higher precision and speed in completing the tasks," said Sun Boyu, a student from the Nanjing University of Science and Technology's participating team.
The competition cultivates students' complex engineering cognition, systematic thinking, teamwork, and project management skills. "Students analyze the competition tasks, make their own plans, conduct overall design, production, and debugging. They learn from encountering problems and making improvements throughout the entire engineering process, gaining valuable insights," said Lu Jilian, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology and director of the Expert Committee of the National College Robot Contest.
"Our role as teachers mainly involves providing technical guidance and assistance. The rest is done by the students themselves. Therefore, our focus is on comprehensive capacity-building," said Fan Weihua, associate professor at the School of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, who serves as the guiding teacher for the participating team.
Robots are hailed as the "crown jewel of manufacturing industry." Their development, production, and application are important indicators of a country's level of technological innovation and high-end manufacturing.
According to the latest "China Robot Industry Development Report (2022)," the global robotics market is expected to surpass 50 billion U.S. dollars, and the Chinese robotics market is projected to reach 17.4 billion U.S. dollars, creating a significant demand for related technical personnel.
The competition attracted 150 teams consisting of nearly 3,000 students from 81 institutions, including Sichuan University, Dongguan University of Technology, Xinjiang University, Southwest Jiaotong University, University of Electronic Science and Technology, and Wuhan University.
On July 6th, Chen Qian, the Executive President of the Nanjing University of Science and Technology's Jiangyin Campus, along with Wang Qi, Zhang Shaofeng, and Hang Cheng from the Jiangyin Municipal Government, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. President Chen Qian warmly welcomed the participating teams on behalf of Nanjing University of Science and Technology and briefly introduced the alignment of the Jiangyin Campus with regional industrial development and the cultivation of talent in emerging interdisciplinary fields. President Chen expressed confidence that the shared values of Nanjing University of Science and Technology and the National College Robot Contest (ROBOCON) in technological innovation and outstanding talent would contribute to the further development and wider impact of the ROBOCON competition. It would attract more young students to engage in the innovation of hard technology fields and make greater contributions to building a technologically strong nation.
The competition, themed "The Flower of Angkor," spanned three days. This year's theme was set by Cambodia. In Cambodian folklore, the rabbit is a symbol of wisdom, while the elephant represents strength and gentleness. Therefore, the task of this "Flower of Angkor" project was for the small rabbit robot and the elephant robot to collaborate in releasing flowers above the "Angkor Wat" temple. The competition consisted of preliminary rounds and the final round. In the preliminaries, teams accumulated points, with each team competing in four matches. The top 32 teams advanced to the finals. The 32 teams in the final round were divided into eight groups of four schools each, competing in a round-robin format within their groups. The top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout stage, and the top 16 teams competed for the championship, first runner-up, and second runner-up positions. The champion team would represent China in the Asian-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU ROBOCON) held in Cambodia. In addition to the theme competition, there were also robot equestrian and robot volleyball challenges taking place simultaneously.
ROBOCON is an international robot competition for college students initiated by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. The competition features high difficulty and requires comprehensive technical skills. The National College Robot Contest (ROBOCON) began in 2002 and follows a task-based format. The theme for each ABU ROBOCON competition is set by the host country based on its historical and cultural characteristics. Participating teams need to design, manufacture, and control robots that can complete the tasks specified in the competition rules, using a combination of mechanical, electronic, and control technologies and tools. The entire process, from robot design, production, debugging, iteration, and training to participating in the competition, takes about ten months. The ROBOCON competition in China has been held for 22 sessions, attracting over 30,000 university students from more than 100 renowned institutions. The competition winners represent China in the ABU ROBOCON, which is one of the most technically challenging and influential robot competitions in the country. The event has become one of the most influential competitions in science and engineering colleges in China, requiring students to form interdisciplinary and cross-professional project teams and promoting the development of their complex engineering cognition, systematic thinking, teamwork, and project management skills.
Since its inception, ROBOCON has motivated over 100 institutions and approximately 30,000 university students to engage in this high-level robot competition. Chinese (including Hong Kong) representative teams have won 6 championships, 7 second places, and 3 third places in the ABU annual finals. Participating students have greatly improved their awareness of technological innovation, engineering practice abilities, and teamwork levels. The competition has contributed to and explored the field of robot education and industry, nurturing a large number of outstanding engineers and entrepreneurs in China's robot industry. It has also cultivated a significant number of top-notch technical and management talents for innovation breakthroughs in the field of hard technology, making it one of the most influential robot competition platforms in China's science and engineering colleges.
"The competition is complex and challenging, involving interdisciplinary collaboration. We face many structural and mechanical issues.
the main challenge is to make the robots achieve higher precision and speed in completing the tasks," said Sun Boyu, a student from the Nanjing University of Science and Technology's participating team.
The competition cultivates students' complex engineering cognition, systematic thinking, teamwork, and project management skills. "Students analyze the competition tasks, make their own plans, conduct design, production, and debugging. They learn from encountering problems and making improvements throughout the entire engineering process, gaining valuable insights," said Lu Jilian, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology and director of the Expert Committee of the National College Robot Contest.
"Our role as teachers mainly involves providing technical guidance and assistance. The rest is done by the students themselves. Therefore, our focus is on comprehensive capacity-building," said Fan Weihua, associate professor at the School of Automation, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, who serves as the guiding teacher for the participating team.
Robots are hailed as the "crown jewel of manufacturing industry." Their development, production, and application are important indicators of a country's level of technological innovation and high-end manufacturing.
According to the latest "China Robot Industry Development Report (2022)," the global robotics market is expected to surpass 50 billion U.S. dollars, and the Chinese robotics market is projected to reach 17.4 billion U.S. dollars, creating a significant demand for related technical personnel.
According to the National Recruitment "Most in Demand Jobs" rankings for the fourth quarter of 2022 released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the manufacturing industry continues to face labor shortages, with a particularly prominent gap in industrial robot system operators. The talent shortage in the artificial intelligence and robotics industry is as high as 5 million people, with a scarcity of composite talents and high-level talents.
"We need professionals in circuit design, sensor applications, sensor design and manufacturing, chip development, control and automation, big data, deep learning, and artificial intelligence," said Sun Rui, associate professor at the School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology.
The talent gap in the robotics industry is largely due to its multifaceted nature. It requires the integration of various disciplines such as mechanical engineering, electronics, computer science, and artificial intelligence, as well as a wealth of practical experience. The comprehensive capabilities of talents are in high demand.
"The current insufficient capabilities of students are reflected in their ability to apply knowledge and innovate. Because they lack practical experience from competitions, when they encounter real problems, they tend to rely on textbook answers rather than seeking better solutions from a practical perspective," said Cong Dehong, professor at the Northeastern University's Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Center.
In the face of the talent shortage in the robotics industry, experts suggest that students should actively participate in practical projects and competitions during their time in college to enhance their professional skills.
"When students work together on a project, engaging in design, debugging, and competition, they gain comprehensive training in abilities. In addition to technical knowledge and practical skills, they also develop communication, coordination, and project management skills. Therefore, talent development is a comprehensive process," said Wang Xu, researcher at Beijing University of Science and Technology.
CubeMars, as the power sponsor of the 22nd ROBOCON competition, is committed to the field of robot motors. We have provided abundant prizes (AK80-8) for the award-winning teams. Through this sponsorship and support, CubeMars aims to inject new vitality into the ROBOCON competition and looks forward to making more active contributions to talent development and technological innovation in the field of robotics in the future.
In addition, CubeMars has opened an online sponsorship application channel for teams participating in the 2024 Robocon season. We will provide sponsorship at two different levels and ensure that sponsorship institutions that have filled out the online sponsorship application form. We look forward to outstanding performances from teams in our country on the competition stage.
To apply for sponsorship, please search for the CubeMars Robot Power WeChat Official Account, fill out the sponsorship application form, and stay updated with real-time information. You can also visit the following link: https://www.cubemars.com/robocon
