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Kampus Kejuruteraan

NI MALAYSIA AND USM ORGANISE ROBOTICS COMPETITION FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

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NIBONG TEBAL, 13 November – NI Malaysia, in partnership with Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) has organized the NI Autonomous Robotic Competition (NI ARC) for the second year running to continue its efforts in encouraging learning, development and innovation among university students in the field of robotics.

This year’s competition saw 11 teams of students from five local institutions competing against each other in the final that was held at USM’s Engineering Campus.

“We are delighted to be able to partner with NI once again for the NI ARC. We share a common vision to expand students’ capabilities in the area of science, technology, engineering and math and we believe the NI ARC offers a great platform for students to do so,” said Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research & Innovation) of USM, Professor Dato’ Ir. Dr. Abdul Rahman Mohamed.

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“Through the NI ARC, students will pick up a range of skills, such as designing and engineering solution based in a specific theme, programming their robots to fulfill tasks and working with others students from various technical background for a common goal. These are necessary skills to be successful engineers, scientists and innovators of the future,” he adds.

The 2019 theme is “Planet Exploration – Mars Exploration Program”, whereby students are required to design and program the hardware to gather specific duration – to determine if Mars could support life, to study the geology of the planet and to help prepare for human exploration.

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When the NI ARC was introduced in 2018, it was initially opened to students from USM only. “After the resounding success of last year’s competition and interest from academia, we decided to open the competition to other local institutions as well. We are thrilled by the encouraging responses from the students so far,” said Vice President for APAC manufacturing NI, Rajesh Purushothaman.

“NI is excited to extend more opportunities for students to explore industry-leading hardware and software through this competition. We are glad to be able to contribute back to the community with our resources and expertise,” add Purushothaman.

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All participants of the NI ARC have been trained by engineers from NI and a unit of myRIO 1900 was given to each team with RM1500 to build a robot, a track and others.

The program began in January and to qualify for the final, the teams were required to submit “milestones” to demonstrate their competencies. The top five teams will be awarded at the final.