Finally, it happened – on June 5, 2010 the unique Robotics Festival ROBOCOMP 2010 took place. Throughout the day, visitors could admire amazing robots developed by students – mostly from Poland and Lithuania – as well as watch presentations of professional firms connected with broadly defined automation.
Ready…
The initiator and organizer of the event was INTEGRA Scientific Association, which is operating under the supervisory of the Department of Control Engineering at University of Science and Technology - AGH. Work on organizing the Festival began when the students received funding in the form of UST-AGH Rector’s Grant. Members of the association began initial preparations in December by organizing local robotics competition. On the grounds that they turned out to be an unexpected success, a real hope that the planned on June event will also be really successful appeared.
During this time, seeking for sponsors and patrons of the Festival took place. Undoubtedly, the fact that students received support of the university – the first honorary patron was Rector of AGH prof. dr hab. inż. Antoni Tajduś – helped in finding firms and institutions which offered participating in collaboration. First contacts with mass media assigns were also established, including press, radio and television.
Steady…
After the Easter, the most intensive period of preparations began. First competitors were registering on the official website of the Festival. However, in order to attract as many participants as possible, the event had to be given greater publicity. The information about Festival appeared on social networking sites and forums related to electronics. Although the organizers initially planned a nationwide event, they invited also guests from Lithuania, Latvia and Slovakia. Several competitors from these countries finally appeared on the Festival.
The place where the Festival could take place also had to be chosen. Finally, two most representative buildings of AGH, A0 and U2, were selected. In the first mentioned place, the qualification of the tournament and the festival part took place, whereas the second one was destined for playing the finals and giving prizes. Only in this way, the organizers were able to cope with the number of players, which began to exceed a hundred.
Go!
After nearly half-year preparations, the trial day has come. The competitors could find out if their robots were able to fight with the best constructions designed by students from Poland, Lithuania and Slovakia, whereas the organizers could see whether they fulfilled their task properly. The referees were also burdened with a responsibility...
The registration of participants began at 8 AM. It turned out that from 140 announced robots almost 100 were prepared for start. The competition was very hard-fought – single millimeters were deciding about sumo robots’ fights results, and in the linefollower category fractions of a second were deciding about the place. In addition, the amazing “Mouse in a maze” competition was played, the difficulty of which is shown by the fact that among six registered robots only three had no problems with the start.
For those who were tired of watching the competition the other, quieter attractions were prepared. The shows of robots taking part in Freestyle category and presentations of companies generated interest until the end of qualification round at 3 PM. The organizers did not forget also about the youngest of robotics enthusiasts - there were prepared contests with prizes especially for children.
During the finals, apart from fighting for medals, there was a surprise waiting for the players and the audience - an animated robot, which led the gala. During it, the prizes for the audience were drawn, as well as for children who took part in their contest. However, the fights aroused the largest interest. Eventually, it became clear that competitors from Lithuania did not give the Poles any chances. In three out of the five categories (sumo, linefollower and minisumo) they were unbeatable. In particular, they dominated in the tournament of minisumo robots – the first three places went to Lithuanian constructions. In order to make the defeat of Polish participants more palatable, Lithuanians prepared a wonderful show - a humanoid robot, which accurately reflected the movements of the human controller’s hands.
A large number of players and audience participated in the Robotics Festival ROBOCOMP 2010. Everyone could find something interesting during the event, both the automation and electronics enthusiasts and children with their parents. A common goal joined these two groups - everyone wanted above all spend the nice weekend.
It was the first edition of the Festival and the next one will be organized in one year time!
