RI to host robotics competition

Indonesia will host the 13^th International Robot Olympiad (IRO) at Tarumanegara University in Jakarta from Thursday to Sunday, with around 1,000 robots from 13 countries being expected to participate.

The Robotic Organizing Committee Indonesia (ROCI) founder and chairman Santoso Gondowidjojo said that Indonesia would exhibit more than 200 robots at the event.

“Although this is the first time that Indonesia will host the Olympiad, robots created by young Indonesians have already been recognized at global robot competitions in the past few years,” Santoso said on Wednesday as quoted by tempo.co.

No hassle: A group of vocational school students show their creation Floor Cleaning Machines 2K11, a robot that could automatically sweep floors in this photo file taken on Sept. 24, 2011. Indonesia will host the 13th International Robot Olympiad (IRO) at Tarumanegara University in Jakarta from Thursday to Sunday. (Antara/Eric Ireng)

He said that Indonesia had managed to bring home a gold medal in the junior creative robot category as well as one bronze medal, one special award and seven technical awards at last year’s IRO in Australia.

Themed as “robots for helping people in natural disasters,” the Olympiad will have 14 categories, such as non-programmed line tracers, non-programmed racing, prison break robots and transporters.

The event spokeswoman, Lolita Zusye, said that there would be two new categories, energy saving robots in relation to the impact of greenhouse gases and environmental preservation, and robots as media promotions of Indonesian culture in the international arena.

Apart from the robot competition, there will also be an exhibition showcasing robotic technology innovations as well as the International Symposium on Robot Education for technology and design observers. (drs)