Students from Łódź in the finals of international competition of mobile robots
Students from the Robotics Science Club SKaNeR at Lodz University of Technology advanced to the finals of one of the world\'s most prestigious competitions of mobile robots - Mohamed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge.
The university spokeswoman Ewa Chojnacka informed about the team\'s success. She added that SKaNeR is the only Polish representative and the only independently competing representative in our part of Europe. Competition finals will be held in March 2017 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.
Chojnacka explained that the team and robots built by students advanced through three stages of elimination. At the beginning there were 143 competing teams from around the world; 28 teams reached the finals, including teams from universities in Zurich, London and Beijing. "The success already achieved is the result of over a year\'s work of project teams of the flying robots section, mobile robot section and Mars rover section" - she said.
The spokeswoman pointed out that the competition in Abu Dhabi sets and shows global trends in the development of mobile robots. Students themselves said that participating in the competition is "the culmination of an important stage in their long-term plan of mobile robots development, but also a unique opportunity to show the potential of Lodz University of Technology and Poland".
"Our work began over a year ago. The complexity of the competition required the integration of the work of several project teams and exchange of experiences between them. New robots are developed, students learn about and test very difficult technologies: navigation, positioning and autonomous manipulation. They work simultaneously on several types of robots: six-wheeler, four-wheeler, and three flying robots" - said the club supervisor Dr. Grzegorz Granosik.
He added that built and programmed robots can compete in various competitions thanks to the modular structure of the components and software.
The university spokeswoman admitted that the team is currently looking for funding to cover the costs of travel to the competition. They are counting on the support of companies interested in modern technologies.
"This is an extremely difficult and complex competition requiring autonomous operation of land and flying robots. We are aware that in many competitive research centres preparation for the competition is carried out by larger teams with much more experience and prestige. However, we hope that in March we will compete with other teams on equal terms, and our solutions will prove to be competitive" - said Mateusz Kujawiński, one of the team leaders.
Chojnacka reminded that the greatest successes of Łódź rover builders include winning the European Rover Challenge in 2016 and fifth place in the University Rover Challenge 2016, organized in the United States.
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