WORLD ROBOCUP 2008
MANOP THIP-OSOD
Students from Chulalongkorn University and supporters pose for a photograph with their rescue robots Plasma RX after winning the RoboCup 2008 championship in Suzhou, China, yesterday. |
SUZHOU, CHINA : Thailand made it three-in-a-row at the World RoboCup 2008 competition in China yesterday when its Chulalongkorn University team swept aside the challenge of its three rivals in the finals.
A tank-shaped robot, Plasma RX, developed by a team of students at the university's engineering faculty, proved too skillful when it came to moving along a rugged and bumpy surface to reach victims of a mock disaster scene during the rescue event.
Team leader Naowarat Termthanasombat said they found pressure as their major obstacle as Thailand was the defending champion.
The two previous titles, in 2006 and 2007, were won by a team from the King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok's Prachin Buri campus.
"Our victory today was the result of team unity," she said after the win.
Ms Naowarat hoped their rescue robot model would be further developed for use for real rescue operations in Thailand.
Her team built the Plasma RX with financial support from the Siam Cement Group (SCG).
They developed software that enables the robot to locate victims more precisely using a camera and a laser-range finder. But it was its mobility that earned them the most applause in the competition.
Competition was held in four different categories - rescue, soccer, everyday life, and a junior event.
In the RoboCup soccer event, another team from Chulalongkorn University won the title, beating a team from the United States.
"In the past, other countries were not much interested in us, but now they've begun to ask and learn from us," said Jackrit Suthakorn, chairman of the Thai Robot Society.
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