KKU is proud of Khon Kaen University students, Mr. Sakda Deesaeng and Mr. Nattanan Kamolphad, two 4th year students majoring in the Automation Robotics and Intelligent System Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, as the 2 young representatives of Thailand who are joining the 47th WorldSkills Lyon 2024 in France in the category of Mobile Robotics Team, to be held on September 3-17, 2024.
It’s now only less than 2 months to the trip towards great challenge.
With interest in robots since they were children, the two boys chose to follow their dream to enter the Faculty of Engineering and their preferred program. They consulted the professors to be able one day to join a world contest on robots. And today their dream comes true after the regional contests when they were in the second and third years. The next is the world robotic contest in Lyon, France.
Sakda and Nattanan revealed that the contest on robots this time came under the question, “Robot in Agricultural Industry”. The robot has the mission to pass 8 modules from A to H. each team has to use the skill in assembling robot from limited existing tools and to write robotic program in C++, Java and Python, to enable movement, avoidance of barriers, checking productivity or collecting productivity. The challenge of this contest is that they do not know what kind of robot they will get and what missions would be like. They need to prepare themselves in details, test the basis in creating various conditions from the question, and acquire intensive basic knowledge in calculation of load, speed, acceleration and sensors.
The contest will be last 6 days. For the first two days, WorldSkills will let them check the tools and enter the field. Next, the contest will be divided into 4 days according to each module. Sakda and Nattanan have divided the duties clearly and they believe that the team strength is to learn about the strategy of the rivals to adjust themselves and enhance their team’s strength. They are prepared to face all challenging questions in order to get highest scores.
“This is a life chance to represent Thailand. Even though we are excited, we are prepared and have strong intention. We train ourselves every day by writing the biggest number of programs in order to see the good and bad points or the defects than an be amended. We hope that our attempts will bring victory over the other 22 countries and the golden medal to Thailand. Please cheer us!”
Assoc. Prof. Thana Ratpakdee, Ph.D., Director of the Excellence Center for Automatic and Robotic System, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University explained that the movable robotic contest sets the robots with 2 and 4 wheels, with special forms, side-slide wheels and more. Therefore, there are 2 important things of this contest: design mechanics for building a robot, which is the hardware; and the program, which is the software. Both must match each other to perform 100% missions. The students have 4 months to prepare themselves after receiving the question. The Department has supported in terms of venue, information and different techniques, with lecturers in the faculty giving intensive consultation.
“This contest is a big chance for the students. It is the world contest with over 1000 contesters in all categories. The contest of movable robots is not to decide who is the smartest, but it also looks at the orderliness, teamwork, and scores will be justified at all levels. The other more challenging and difficult part is the selection of board for program writing where students have to write their own programs to demonstrate their potentials. I hope everyone gives them moral support and sees the importance of their being Thailand representatives.”
Assoc. Prof. Paphot Jaroenapiban, Ph.D., Administrative Chairman of the Automation Robotics and Intelligent System Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University said that WorldSkills, which have been organized many times, is a world stage that opens up a chance for students in different countries to apply their competency in the contest. They will obtain perspectives related to industrial trends seen as important by the world today. So the students will learn about new technology and acquire direct experiences that can be applied in Thailand. This is in accordance with the instruction of the Automation Robotics and Intelligent System Engineering Program that emphasizes Active Learning, theoretical and practices for students to apply the knowledge.
“Students learn about the modern science in parallel with training to use tools and automatic equipment used in modern factories, in laboratories. We are the quality graduate incubation institution for the labor market of industry. Students who are interested in automation robotics and intelligent system engineering can study here for their future occupation.”
News / Photos: Phanit Khatnak
