Mon, September 01, 2008
Young robot engineers pit their skills against an obstacle course, and each other, at Japan's national finals for the World Robot Olympics.
Organisers and competitors say it stretches their talent:
(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) YASUHIDE KOBAYASHI, WORLD ROBOT OLYMPIAD ORGANIZER, SAYING:
"In Japan, we have made efforts to train people who can create things. And here, we aim to awaken children's curiosity towards science. This is the reason why we are hosting this event."
(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) KOSUKE SUZUKI SAYING: "At the world championships, we will have to even to write a program on our own during the competition. That's why we have to work hard."
Most of the entries were robotic cars - but these had to be pre-programmed, rather than simply remote controlled.
Some of the tasks were set at short notice - only on the day of the competition - which certainly made life harder for some of the teams.
SImple tasks such as object detection, pushing things around or picking them up, can be a challenge for these devices.
Making them work is a useful start for tomorrow's robot engineers.
