YOGYAKARTA – As many as 98 robot teams from colleges and high schools follow the Ebootec Line Follower Robot Contest (Elins Robo Competition), Sunday (15/7), at Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada. The annual activity organized by the Department of Electronics and Instrumentation (Elins) aims to foster the creativity of college and high school students in advancing the national robotics. "This is the second year and we are specifically holding the event for line follower robots," the committee chairman, Fariz Alemuda, said to reporters.
The reason to choose line follower, according to Fariz, is because this type of robot is generally the most favored by students. Moreover, the working mechanism of line follower robot is the basic step in the development of advanced robots. "This robot is commonly developed by students. This is the basis of the current robot technology," he said.
In the line follower robot contest, the robot must be able to detect a line from sensors mounted on the robot. The robot’s ability to follow a challenge in form of a winding black line in the fastest time to finish is considered the winner. But as the race progresses, it is common that robot cannot go through. Some even speed out of the path. "We give three times of opportunity, those which could not complete the task will be disqualified," he said.
The 98 teams participating in this robot contest consist of 40 high school teams while the rest are from universities, including UII, UGM, PENS ITS, UI, ITB and ITS. The winners are entitled to have trophies from governor, regent and rector, and prize money.