TechnoMind | School Level Competition
April 29, 2023 · 3:30 AM - 9:30 AM @ Trace Expert City, Colombo 01000,, Trace Expert City - Bay No: 10
Description
The IEEE Industry Applications Society Student Branch Chapter of SLTC Research University (IEEE IAS of SLTC) in collaboration with The Robotic and Rover Division of the Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Chapter of SLTC Research University (SEDS SLTC) have completed their latest project, “TechnoMind.” “TechnoMind” can be considered another excellent attempt by the IEEE IAS of SLTC in collaboration with SEDS SLTC Robotic & Rover Division, to encourage the next generation of engineers and inventors. Project "TechnoMind” initiated as a Workshop-based project with the goal of inspiring the next generation of innovators. The whole event was categorized into three main events. Workshop Series Competition & Exhibition The initiation of an enlivening project, TechnoMind, was on 20th November 2022 with the start of the official promotions. The participants were registered for the first two phases, The Workshop Series, The Competition and The Exhibition, via google forms which were shared all over the country through social media platforms. The Workshop Series initiated the project on 10th December 2022 offering two intermediate-level workshops on Robotic Control Systems (150+ participants), STEM empowerment, product design (110+ participants), biomedical engineering (100+ participants), and the Sri Lankan Robotics Industry, conducted via Zoom. Beginner-level workshops for 15 – 20-year-olds in Sri Lanka covered Arduino Basics, ESP Microcontrollers, Modern Engineering, AI and Robotics Future, offering e-certificates and valuable STEM education. The program's success was emphasized by the participation of around 200 students in beginner-level workshops. The Competition was conducted for students and undergraduates to apply knowledge from the Four-Day Workshop Series. The competition is divided into two phases: a virtual quiz and a physical competition where teams-built rovers. The top 15 teams qualified for the next phase. The competition also included a racetrack bot creation competition for undergraduates. The top three winners in each category received awards, certificates, and cash prizes. These competitions aimed to showcase skills, gain recognition, and apply new knowledge in a practical setting. Entries not complying with the rules were disqualified. Separate competitions for undergraduates and students took place over the course of two days. The school level competition of the workshop series was held on the 29 th of April 2023 at 09.00am (GMT +05.30) at Trace Expert City Maradana, Sri Lanka. School-level competition provided students with a unique opportunity to showcase their skills in robotics and problem-solving. Organized after a series of informative and inspiring webinars, this competition aimed to foster a passion for STEM among school kids. The competition encouraged teamwork, creativity, and critical thinking as students collaborated to design and construct their robots. They had to ensure that their robots could autonomously navigate a predefined course by following a line accurately. This challenge not only tested their technical skills but also their ability to troubleshoot and adapt their robots for optimal performance. All the participants of the previously held webinars were asked to form groups based on their school and were registered to the competition. The organizing committee arrived at the Trace premises at 07:00 am and made sure that all of the logistics and necessary equipment were in place and the event was ready to go. The participants arrived at the premises at 8 30 am and the organizing committee made sure that all the teams were seated and provided with refreshments by 9 am. The event started at 9 am by lighting the oil lamp, then the moderators Ms.Sabrina Samath and Ms.Ashini Rupasinghe gave an introduction about the TechnoMind project. Then the Co-Chair of TechnoMind Kasun Kavishka explained the guidelines, rules and regulations of the competition to all the contenders. Then the resource person of the competition Mr.Ushan Chaminda (CEO - Gavesha Labs (Pvt) Ltd) gave a brief description about the equipments we gave the participants and the schematic needed to build the line following robot. Then the timer started at 9.30am by giving 3 hours to all the contenders to build their robot. During this time organizing committee members were assigned a specific team so that all the contenders were able to get the necessary assistance as soon as possible. Apart from this our resource person Mr.Ushan Chaminda also made rounds making sure that contenders are not having any technical difficulties. Then at 12.30 pm the time given for the contenders ended and the organizing committee members labeled all the robots by the team name and were taken to the judge panel. After that a lunch time of 1 hour was given to all participants and organizing committee members to get refreshed. Then at 1.30pm competition started again and team by team was called to the testing arena and were allowed to showcase their robot to the judge panel. The judge panel comprised of: Mr. Rangika Ranasinghe – Associate Project Manager at Zone24x7 Mr. Ushan Chaminda – CEO at Gavesha Labs (Pvt) Ltd Ms. Lihini Senanayake – Founding Member of Gavesha Labs (Pvt) Ltd Ms. Swapna Premasiri – Lecturer at SLTC Research University The judges then evaluated all robot’s performance and the final report was given to the project Co-Chair Kasun Kavishka, and School Level Competition came to an end with that. This session comprised with 15 teams from 15 different schools and comprised of 75+ students in total The competition was a massive success. Through the feedbacks obtained, it could be concluded that the competition was an immense success and laid a strong foundation for the workshop webinars that were yet to come. “It was a very good session. I learned so much. Thank you!” - Nimna Herath “I'm very satisfied with this workshop series. Thank you for organizing it” - Heshan Rashmika “Organizing did a very good job by organizing this amazing workshop series” - Didula Sanketh
Agenda
9.00 A.M. – 9.15 A.M Introduction about the Project Technomind by the Moderators 9.15 A.M. – 9.20 A.M Welcome Speech by the project Co-Chair Dishan Agalawatte 9.20 A.M. – 9.30 P.M Competition guidelines explanation by project Co-Chair Kasun Kavishka 9.30 A.M. - 12.30 P.M Competition Begins 12.30 P.M - 01.30 P.M Lunch Time 01.30 P.M - 03.00 P.M Judge Panel will Evaluate all the robots 03.00 P.M End of the Competition