The 11th TDK Cup Robot Contest in Taiwan

October 19, 2007

As part of the Ministry of Education project to encourage creativity thinking and practice and to reinforce industrial design, research, and product development, with the sponsorship of TDK foundation, the Ministry began to observe the NHK ROBOCON since 1986 and initiated the TDK Cup Robot Contest in Taiwan. The TDK Cup is now in its tenth year.

The Pioneer, the largest, and the most creative robot design and development contest in Taiwan - in the Ministry of Education's national press conference held on October 8, 2007, a real person simulation two-feet walking robot, Janet, developed by Professor Lin Qi-Yu of the National Taiwan University of technology, amazed the guests with warm greetings, and the house was filled with bravos as six groups of college representatives presented their robot shows.

This year's contest attracted participation of a total of 80 teams in the Remote-Control and Automation groups, and this year's theme is "Ocean City; Impression of Kaohsiung ".

The sub-theme for the remote group is "Tour of the Harbor City". A total of 38 teams signed up for the contest. For this category, teamwork is highly demanded as the teams are required to design robots that have clever and mobile walking abilities to overcome the obstacles and high agility and responsiveness to push the tricycles to the finish line while the robots are controlled over remote mechanisms.

The sub-theme for the automation group is "Sights and Sounds of the Piers". A total of 42 teams signed up for the contest. Robots in this category must be equipped with track moving ability. Obstacles, including an up-hill, down-hill, curve, tunnel, and touch-down zone, are set up in the race course. Robots in this category must be highly mobile, agile, and smart enough to retrieve balls, identify colors, carry out sorting, and place the balls into the target.

With the belief - "Contribute creations to the culture and industry", TDK Foundation sponsors this contest with full funding. The champions of the Remote and Automation groups will have the chance to observe the 20th NHK ROBOCON College Game in Japan in November.

The TDK Cup Robot Contest has been tremendous encouragement to the colleges in Taiwan and has contributed to the upgrades of creative thinking and production skills of college students. TDK Taiwan is not only a corporation; it is a talent incubator where personalities are molded. Dream, Courage, and Trust - under the management philosophy, TDK Taiwan contributes its forces to the economic development of Taiwan and the growth the electronic industry.