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| THE WINNER OF WORLD ROBOGAMES COMPETITION 2009, UNIKOM Students Make History, Elevating Indonesia to Winner of International Robot Contest |
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The explanation by Dr. Ir. Eddy Soeryanto Soegoto, Rector of Indonesia’s Computer University (UNIKOM) during Campus Asia’s recent education forum was far too humble. Nobody in the audience realized that this was the leader of the world’s best robot design producing university. (By Andres Fatubun, Campus Asia Magazine Volume 2 number 11, October 2009).
Soft Spoken and bit reserved, Eddy Soeryanto Seogoto did not display the image of high –profile university leader. But, even as he exhibited a low profile posture, this was a already powerful gesture that the achievement of a good leader would speak louder than his words.
By that time his students were making history in the United States. The robotics team of UNIKOM performed so well that they emerged as world champions in the prestigious competition. Their wheeled robot won the gold medal in the Sixth Annual RoboGames Competition in San Fransisco, USA, on June 12-14, 2009.
UNIKOM’s Rudi Hartono with his DU-114 won the gold in the category of Open Fire Fighting Autonomous Robot while Stevanus Akbar Alexander who went there with his legged NEXT 116, won the 5th place. The good news is that the Bandung made DU-114 robot defeated America’ s three best performers namely Green Machine Reloaded, Solenopsis Geminata, and Tito. UNIKOM’s DU-114 even defeated famous entries from University of Akron which had won this category for four consecutive years.
Accompanying the students, UNIKOM sent its faculty members including chief of the Robotics Department Yusrilla Y Kerlooza MT, Vice Rector for Student Affairs Dr. Aelina Surya, and Vice Rector of Academic Affairs Prof. Dr. Ratna Ria Ariawati. Along with them was Eril Mozef PhD from Indonesia’s National Smart Robots Committee.
Another unique thing about this UNIKOM team is that its NEXT-116 robot was the only legged robot to have defeated so many wheeled entries in claiming the 5th place. This is said to be unique because theoretically wheeled robots should move much faster; and yet UNIKOM’s NEXT-116 made a difference.
This achievement by the Bandung students has inspired the organizing committee to include legged robots in the category of open fire fighting for next year’s contest. The UNIKOM student’s performance also attracted hundreds of Indonesian nationals in San Francisco. They went to see the students to give them moral support ahead of the competition. Correspondents of the Voice of America (VOA) made a special effort to visit the Indonesia students upon learning of their inventions.
The Bandung students also paid a courtesy call on Dr. George Anwar, an Indonesian national who teaches at the university of California, Berkeley. Dr. Anwar is also chief of The Robotics Department at this university. This is why the UNIKOM team made use of this opportunity to explore ways in which the two universities may cooperate for further development of robotics science as well as for exchange of teachers and students. |
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| Why UNIKOM Won? |
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But what it is that made the UNIKOM team so successful? The secret, according to Rector, lies in consistent focus on research and hard work. They seem to have understood very well the dictum that success awaits those who go the extra yard and do what others don’t.
Eril Mozef PhD from National Smart Robots Committee has a better explanation. He says that one of the reasons UNIKOM won the global contest is because even before going there, it had passed higher test standards applied nationally.
In other words, for the sake of winning the global RoboGames competition, the Indonesian robot contest committee raised the winning criteria barrier level way above the global standards. This has been the case since 2004. And even since then, Eril had predicted that one day Indonesia would win the global contest.
UNIKOM join the global contest because it was the national–level winner of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Smart Robot Indonesia Contests. And UNIKOM was Indonesia’s first representative to this contest. This was the reason why President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono honored them with the Satya LencaWira Karya medal.
UNIKOM’s victory has indeed aroused the nation’s pride in developing science and technology. Director General for Higher education Dr. Fasli Jalal says that one good thing he has learned is that expertise for developing smart robots is not the monopoly of engineering schools because even math and physic students have proven their excellence on the global scale. Apart from this, it is a field in which excellence is not determined by the age of a university but is determined by the amount of attention and seriousness rendered to scientific endeavors.
Minister of education Prof. Dr. Bambang Sudibyo is proud to announce that Indonesia is now able to compete with advanced countries in robot development even tough robotics science is relatively new here. The government, therefore, has prepared scholarships for the UNIKOM students to pursue post graduate studies in the field. But it is still unclear whether similar scholarships will be granted to potential students from other universities in Indonesia. Another thing worth mentioning is whether the government will give similar level of appreciation to students who excel in other fields such as arts, culture, religion, education, health care, social solidarity, etc.
This is a country which, alas, those who excel in exact sciences seem to enjoy bigger appreciation than those in other fields. The truth, educators say, is that since education is holistic in nature, our understanding of and approach to it must also be holistic.
Every year RoboGames invites the best minds from around the world to compete in more than 70 different events. Combat robots, walking humanoids, soccer bots, sumo bots, and even androids that do kung-fu. Some participating robots this year were autonomous, some were remote controlled, but they were all cool. As an open event, anyone can compete. This year’s competition was participated in by 18 countries comprising 169 teams with 395 entries, 403 robots and 602 engines that took part in 51 events. |
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| Results of the June 12-14, 2009 sixth annual RoboGames competition are as follows: |
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| OPEN |
GOLD |
SILVER |
BRONZE |
| Best Show |
UK – R2 D2 </B |
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| USA – chessRobot (Tie) |
UK – Cheeky Monkey |
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| Line Follower ( auton) |
Mexico – Pontiac GTO |
Mexico – The Warrobot |
USA Line Drive V2 |
| Fire Fighting ( auton) |
Indonesia – DU-14 |
USA – Green Mac Reloaded |
USA- Solenopsis geminata |
| USA – Tito (tie) |
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- |
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| Walker Challenge |
UK – Ziggy |
UK – Flik |
USA – Sterylite6000 |
| Tabel Top Nav ( auton) |
USA – ERP |
USA _ Timmy |
USA – Dusty |
| Shooting Gallery |
Russia – Iglomet -2 |
USA – ATAT |
USA – Last Minute |
| Robomagellan (auton) |
USA – A3 |
USA – Beaver II |
USA – Red Dwarf |
| Tetrix Open |
USA - Schmallow Bot |
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- |
| Ribbon Climber |
UK – S E R |
USA – Selene I |
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| Maze Solv ( microm) |
USA – Daedalus I |
- |
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| Lego Open |
UK – Flik |
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