Youth pitch robotic creations in 4-day contest

Robots struggle for top positions in competitions like Robo Wars, Sumo Wars and Robo Race

RAWALPINDI: National University of Science and Technology (NUST), STEM Career Programme-HEC organised the 17th Annual National Engineering Robotics Contest (NERC)' 2019 at NUST, College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering (CEME), Rawalpindi which continued for four days.

As many as 182 teams from different Universities, Colleges and Institutes from all over the country participated in four days long competition. CEME Markhor team win the first prize in the robotics contests.

Teams of students of various engineering universities entered the contest pitting their robots in competitions of various categories like Robo War, Somo War and artificial intelligence.

While interacting with media, the students said the purpose of the contest is to bring Pakistani talent to the light and also to keep the nation in step with emerging technologies.

Akhuwat Foundation Founder Dr Muhammad Amjad Saqib felicitated NUST CEME for annually organising the competition, adding that such competitions not only provide the engineering students of Pakistan a platform to get a complete engineering experience, but also demonstrate that we as a nation are progressing in these technologically advanced fields.

Commandant CEME Brigadier Tariq Javed appreciated how the number of participants had grown over the years and the standard of the competition has risen. "We believe that healthy competitions like NERC are beacons of a progressive attitude. In a knowledge-based economy, towards which the world is heading, creativity and innovation have become essential weapons in the intellectual armoury of students. At the end of the ceremony the chief guest gave away the prizes to the winning and runner-up teams of "National Engineering Robotic Contest 2019" (NERC) in different categories.

Pakistani students clinch top slots in music, speech competitions in China

CEME Commandant Brigadier Tariq on the occasions aid that it would create the spirit of creating innovation into the young blood, while the future is of such new technologies and it need of the hour to be excel into this field.

National Engineering Robotics Contest is a joint project of National University of Sciences and Technology, STEM Careers Programme and Pakistan Science Foundation, to promote research in robotics and its related fields in Pakistan.

Honour roll

Winner NERC 2019 Shield with cash prize of Rs100,000 was awarded to team Markhor from NUST CEME. First Runner up NERC 2019 Shield with cash prize of Rs70,000 was awarded to team Ghori from NUST CEME. Second Runner up NERC 2019 Shield with cash prize of Rs50,000 was awarded to team Gears from Lahore Garrison University.

Best Engineering Design Award, with cash prize of RS15,000, each was awarded to Decepticon team from NUST CEME, Suicide Squad from University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Taxila, and Khal Drogo from LUMS.

Winner NERC 2019 Modular Category (Universities), with cash prize of Rs25,000, was awarded to team JF 17 Thunder from Lahore Garrison University. First Runner up NERC 2019 Modular Category (Universities), with cash prize of Rs15,000, was awarded to team King Robo from University of Balochistan.

Winner NERC 2019 Modular Category (Schools), with cash prize of Rs25,000, was awarded to team Biryani Bots from Roots Millennium School. Runner up with cash prize of Rs15,000, was awarded to team Botistotles from EMS High School.

Winner NERC 2019 Ready to Move Robo Race School Category, with cash prize of Rs15,000, was awarded to team Star Screen-LGSIT from Lahore Grammar School.

Winner NERC 2019 Ready to Move Robo Race University Category, with cash prize of Rs15,000, was awarded to team Robo Nerds from PAF Karachi Institute of Economics & Technology.

Winner NERC 2019 Robo Wars, with cash prize of Rs25,000, was awarded to team Lucifer from Institute of Space Technology (IST) Islamabad. Runner up NERC 2019 Robo Wars, with cash prize of RS15,000, was awarded to team Wrecker from Dawood University Karachi.

Winner NERC 2019 Sumo Wars, with cash prize of Rs15,000, was awarded to team Revolutioners from Dawood University Karachi. Winner NERC 2019 Aero - Contest of Drones (Category-I) with cash prize of Rs20,000 was awarded to team Griffins from Bahria University Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2019.