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Machine heads
Secondary schools join hands leading a local robotics revolution
Question: When does a football match involve neither feet nor a leather ball? Answer: When the players are robots, as learning post found out at the International Junior Robot Challenge and Exhibition 2005, a three-day event that took place in June at BEC-TERO Hall. At the event, non-human players faced off on a miniature greyscale pitch, and goals were scored with an infrared-emitting electronic device. The UEFA Cup it most certainly was not. However, the challenge definitely was something of a local first, as it brought together 18 schools from Thailand, Japan, and Singapore. Each teams’ mettle was tested as their robots competed in four competition categories: Robo Soccer, Robo Dancing, Robo Rescue, and Simulation League. “This event is special because all four categories are being held at the same time, and because the competition targets secondary school students, both of which normally don’t happen at the international level,” Surasit Sukchai, president of THAI Junior Robot Association, told learning post. The association — which is also the event organiser — was born two years ago when Surasit, then a teacher at Assumption College Bangkok, took a team of students to Japan to participate in an international robot competition. In Japan, Surasit noticed that the Thai students’ technical skills lagged far behind those of other teams. As a result, he formed the THAI Junior Robot Association with a view to bringing young enthusiasts together to develop the expertise that would allow them to compete successfully at an international level.
Two years on and Surasit’s efforts are paying off, with Thai students now stepping up to compete at the same level as their Japanese and Singaporean counterparts. The final round of the recent event’s Robo Soccer category, for example, was a battle between two Thai schools — Assumption College Samut Prakarn and Assumption College Bangkok. According to Koompan Jantawan, who mentors the Assumption College Samut Prakarn team, his students spent only three weeks as members of the school’s robotics club before the event. “We just hoped they would gain some experience, but the next thing we know, they were in the final round,” said Koompan. “Experience is an important factor because good techniques are required in almost every stage of the competition,” added team captain Shih Chieh Lai. “Plus, these robots have a tendency to malfunction at every instant, so a good game planning strategy is crucial.” ROBOTS TO THE RESCUE
Malfunctions are to be expected, of course. A science in its infancy, robotics is an integration of many different disciplines. To build a reliable robot, students need to know the maths involved in determining the centre of gravity and how this affects the robot’s movements, for example. They also need to think about how they are going to communicate with their robot. However, more important than the integration of knowledge is the ability to adapt and apply this knowledge to the given tasks, and this helps develop teamwork and leadership skills in areas that one would not normally associate with robotics. For example, while Robo Soccer relies more heavily on a team’s technical skills, Robo Dancing is more about creativity in choreographing the robots and putting on an attractive display. Specifically, students must design robots that can dance to certain rhythms, with points weighed more heavily towards artistic qualities rather than technical skills in programming and constructing the robot. On the other hand, Simulation League is a competition of pure intelligence in computer programming. Given certain rules beforehand, students must make their robot character walk in a computer-simulated map and collect items randomly. The result is a little like watching the game PacMan. The most challenging category, however, is Robo Rescue, in which students program a robot to move through an obstacle course. While robots in the other three categories are pre-programmed to move automatically in the ring, Robo Rescue requires both automatic and manual robot operations. As a result, the intelligence level of the robot involved is necessarily high. Unfortunately for Shih Chieh and his team, the first runner-up award is the best they can do this time round. And although this result means that they miss out on an opportunity to participate in the Robo Cup event — the ultimate face-off in artificial intelligence for world’s robotics enthusiasts — this competition perhaps marks the beginning of a long road to success. The future is now, as they say.
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LANGUAGE LEARNING NEW TEST ETS to offer free TOEFL iBT practice test
The new TOEFL Internet-based test will begin September 24 in the US. In October, the test will be offered in Canada, France, Germany and Italy, and will be administered worldwide in 2006. Students will be able to access the TOEFL iBT practice test through the TOEFL Practice Online community at www.ets.org/toeflpractice. Besides access to the practice test, TOEFL Practice Online member benefits include access to sample questions, discussion board and study tips. The free TOEFL iBT practice test is designed to help test-takers become familiar and comfortable with the new test format. The practice test will present authentic questions and allow simulation of actual TOEFL iBT testing conditions. The practice test includes the Reading, Listening and Writing sections of the new test, and test-takers will receive instant feedback. The Speaking section is administered separately for a fee, and test takers will get feedback in about five days. “Offering a free, online TOEFL iBT practice test reflects ETS's commitment to the success of our test takers and score users,” explained Mari Pearlman, Senior Vice President of ETS's Higher Education Division. “Students can practice each language skill so that they can feel more confident about their ability to communicate with teachers, counsellors, and other students. The practice test is just one example of a variety of print and online resources designed to keep everyone up-to-date about the new test.” AFP |
Who says robots can’t have any fun? This one hula dances.
Move over David Beckham — it may not look much, but this is actually a soccer-playing robot.
The sum of the parts — the building blocks for many actual robots are simple Lego kits.tion
PRINCETON — The Educational Testing Service (ETS) is offering a free practice test for the Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT) to coincide with the beginning of registration for the new test on July 25.