KUALA LUMPUR: The Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry is planning to organise an Asean-level Malaysia Combat Robot Competition next year.
Deputy Minister Datuk Mohammad Yusof Apdal (pic) said the proposal, which takes into account Malaysia’s role as the Asean Chair next year, aims to create opportunities and draw the attention of member nations to the field of robotics in Malaysia.
“We also hope that this open Malaysian competition can be expanded to a larger scale, possibly even at a global level.
“By inviting Asean countries, our young champions this year can compete on the Asean stage,” he said to Bernama after the closing ceremony of the 2024 Malaysia Combat Robot Competition here yesterday.
The competition, organised by the ministry through the National Science Centre (PSN), is open to youth from both public and private institutions of higher education, industrial training institutes, Mara skills institutes, polytechnics, robotics communities and individuals.
This year’s competition, themed “Keep Fighting” or “Terus Berjuang”, was won by Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT), marking their second consecutive victory.
TAR UMT engineering student Hagrid Cheah said the competition allowed his team to deepen their understanding of building high-endurance robots.
“We researched the selected weapons, and referred to professional combat robotics from the United States, India and South Korea. Then we built our own based on that,” he said.
The 2024 Malaysia Combat Robot Competition, held from Sept 16 to 19 at PSN in Kuala Lumpur, offered RM500 to RM10,000 in cash prizes.
