On November 19-20, 2023, the 15th Robot Design Contest (RDC) was held at the Hong Kong Jockey Club Atrium, HKUST. Hosted by the HKUST Robotics Team and HKUST RoboMaster Team ENTERPRIZE, this internal competition aims to recruit passionate and talented individuals in the field of robotics across the University. The RDC saw more than 180 students in 13 training groups showcase their innovative and creative robots, with mentorship provided by experienced members of both organizing teams.

To promote collaboration and interaction among student teams, this year is the first time that the Robotics Team and RoboMaster Team joined hands to organize the RDC together. This year also marked the post-COVID return of the contest at the Atrium in an open setting, which is crucial in generating broader interests among students on campus and creating a thrilling atmosphere of the competition. To reach wider audience outside the campus, the contest was livestreamed on online platforms YouTube and BiliBili for the first time ever.

Prof. MOW Wai-Ho, Associate Dean of Engineering (Undergraduate Studies), gave the opening remarks and affirmed the School of Engineering’s strong support for experiential learning activities, in which robotics competition is a good example. “Now in its 15th year, the Robot Design Contest has drawn the highest-ever applications from over 440 students across the University. We hope that the students will not only gain engineering knowledge but also work together, team up together, strive for meaningful goals, enjoy the activity, and develop friendships,” he said.

The theme of this year’s contest incorporated some features from the ABU Robocon competition, the RoboMaster competition, and the RoboGames competition. Participants were tasked with designing and constructing robots to solve practical problems, while also improving their communication and time management skills. The game featured two robots, the Task Robot (TR) and the Automatic Robot (AR), and a game between two groups lasted three minutes. In order to win the game, the TR is required to put as many seedlings in the planting zones as possible while the AR needs to recognize the correct colored buckets and place golf balls inside.

The Robot Design Contest is a great experiential learning platform for students to enhance their personal and professional development and experience a robotics competition in its entirety. It also encourages students to work in a multidisciplinary team whose members are from different countries. After intense competition, six awards were granted to the winning teams from among 13 training groups.

Winner List
Champion: KIVOTOS
1st Runner-up: Hortaleza
2nd Runner-up: Super RoboBros
Best Engineering Award: KIVOTOS
Best Presentation Award: FROM UST WITH LOVE
Best Creativity Award: Due Today Do Today

Congratulations to all the winners!

List of committee and senior members