【Tamkang Times】Professor from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Intelligent Automation and Robotics Center, Ching-chang Wong, with Assistant Professors Chi-tai Cheng and Shih-an Li lead the Intelligent Automation Robotics team to Beijing to compete in the 19th Annual Federation of International Robot-Soccer Association (FIRA) robot soccer competition from November 6th to the 10th. The team’s performance was exceptional, winning six gold medals and three bronze medals.

Since 2003 TKU’s team has won the RoboSot (medium sized auto focusing robots) division 10 times and the HuroCup (human-shaped robot) division 7 times. Ching-chang Wong stated, “Only with the support of TKU, have they been able to research and create such successful designs. This is the most gold medals we’ve ever won in a single event.” Every year the FIRA competition raises the level of difficulty in order to challenge the competitors innovate abilities. For the entire soccer competition, no one had to bother with using any remote control technology. As for the soccer match, the robots were able to compete solely relying on their automated system designs.

This year the researchers had their work cut out for them, creating fifth generation models that outclassed previous designs in many ways: balance, mobility and effectiveness. Various challenges were created to test the robots maneuvering capabilities such as the Avoidance Challenge, Localization Challenge, Lift and Carry, Weight Lifting, Basketball, Marathon and the All Around. Team Captain and third-year student of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Gong-han Chen, stated, “This is the first year that we have incorporated the Robot Operating System, ROS, so I’m sure we are going to have some excellent results from the new adjustments in the future.”

In the HuroCup, the team took three golds and two bronzes with their robot “Special Black.” Team captain and second year graduate student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Yi-chong Lin, stated, “This is a fantastic learning experience that gives us all a chance to learn and develop new skills and concepts together.