Taking out the trash at Robot Olympiad

Agnes Winarti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sun, 07/06/2008 11:37 AM | Headlines

The fifth annual Indonesian Robot Olympiad is underway in Jakarta, with 124 elementary and secondary school children from across the country participating in teams of two.

Sari, a housewife from Cibubur, East Jakarta, is the mother of 11-year-old Hersetyo, one of the participants.

"Ever since my son was three-years-old, he was always fond of assembly games such as Lasy and Lego. He also likes math and computer games," she said.

"This competition combines all his favorite activities. It's good that besides having fun, he can also exercise his logical and creative sides.

"I'm not putting any pressure on him to win, I just want him to have fun doing this."

The competition is organized by Mikrobot, the sole Lego distributor in Indonesia. Participants have come from as far afield as Medan in North Sumatra, Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java, and Semarang and Surakarta in Central Java.

The object of this year's competition is to create a Recycle Keeper robot prototype that can move along a track and pick up discarded soda cans and Ping-Pong balls in its path.

The final of the competition will take place on Sunday. Four children, or two winning teams, will go on to represent Indonesia at the World Robot Olympiad in Yokohama, Japan, in November.

A robot prototype created by an Indonesian participant won the coveted Golden Award at last year's olympiad in Taipei, Taiwan, in which 20 European and Asian countries were represented.

The prototype, called the Rubik Cube Solver, was capable of solving the popular puzzle in less than a minute, and was the brainchild of Ali Sanjaya, a student at STMIK Mikroskil college in Medan.

Ali, who is also Mikrobot's IT director, said he built the robot using Lego bricks.

"The great thing about Lego is you can make various robot prototypes from the same items. When one is done, you can dismantle it and use the same parts to construct a new one," he said.

Lego sets retail for about Rp 3 million (US$330), Mikrobot managing director Bambang Rusli said.

"It costs so much because it's imported," he said.

Sri, a dentist from Cilegon, Banten, said her son's hobby took up a lot of time and money.

"I drive him to Karawaci, Tangerang, every week for his robotics club activities. We don't mind supporting him as long as he shows progress," said the 41-year-old, whose home in Cilegon is an hour's drive from Karawaci.

Mikrobot, established in 2003, started out as an extracurricular club for computer and IT students at STMIK Mikroskil. The company has now opened a robotics community center and store at the Senayan City shopping center in Central Jakarta.

It is also affiliated with some 30 robotics clubs around Indonesia. For most club members, robotics is more a hobby rather than a stepping stone into the lucrative robot industry.

"We are focused on sharing our ideals with those who are fond of assembling robot prototypes," Bambang said.

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