Our CCA consists of a cosy community of robotics enthusiasts, dedicated to pursuing our passion for robotics, engineering and technology.
We meet at our club room, located opposite “My Rest Space” near the Marymount gate, twice a week. The official session is on Wednesday from 3 pm to 5 pm, and the second session may be scheduled by the teams on any one of the other weekdays during the peak periods of competition preparation.
The competitions we participate in annually undoubtedly form the core of the Automatica experience. Every member is given an opportunity to participate in two competitions a year: RoboCup and World Robotics Olympiad (WRO).
RoboCup
RoboCup is normally held around March to April and comprises different categories which members can choose to take part in: Rescue Line, Soccer Open and CoSpace.
RoboCupJunior Rescue Line
The aim of the rescue line mission is to navigate through a line-track sequence involving multiple obstacles and reach the evacuation zone, where the robot must rescue victims (represented by different coloured balls). Obstacles include speed bumps, objects obstructing the way, ramps, discontinuous lines and many more! Check out how a Rescue Mission looks like here.
RoboCupJunior Soccer Open
As the name suggests this category involves a thrilling and intense 2v2 match between two teams where each team aims for accurate shots to the goal while preventing the opponents from scoring. Each team consists of 2 robots, where 1 is the striker and the other is the goalie. Attack and defence strategies must be optimised for best possible performance against various competitors.
Check out a sample soccer match here or here!
RoboCup CoSpace
The RoboCup CoSpace Autonomous Driving Challenge focuses on path planning in a smart city. For this challenge, teams are required to program autonomous vehicles to navigate through a smart city in both real and virtual environments (CoSpace). The simulator allows programs to be developed using a graphical programming interface (GUI), Python or C language.
RoboCup Achievements
In RoboCup 2023, we achieved overall 1st and 2nd for Soccer, overall 1st and 3rd for Rescue with 2nd in Influencer Award and 1st in Influencer Award for CoSpace.
Our champion Rescue and Soccer teams also participated in RoboCup Internationals hosted in Bordeaux, France, where our Rescue team clinched Outstanding Engineering Process and our Soccer team achieved the Outstanding Design Award, with 3rd place in Matches.
World Robot Olympiad
After the conclusion of RoboCup, we took a step back to reflect on our experiences before delving into WRO, which was held in September. We took part in both the RoboMission (Senior) and Future Engineers category.
WRO RoboMission Senior
WRO RoboMission comprises two components, the side quests and the robot run. The side quests are fun monthly tasks where competitors follow an objective and post a video of the task on Instagram. The robot run involves completing a specified mission in 1 minute. This year, both our RoboMission teams were invited to participate in the finals.
WRO Future Engineers
WRO Future Engineers is all about autonomous driving. The challenge is to build an autonomous robotic vehicle with a steering drive capable of completing 2 different challenges – drive around a track autonomously and avoid coloured obstacles. If you are interested to check out video of our robot in action, as well as the source code, 3D-printed parts, and PCB of our robot, do head over to our GitHub repository here.
WRO Achievements
In WRO 2023, both our RoboMission teams enter finals, competing as one of only 8 finalists, with one team achieving 2nd Runner Up. Our Future Engineers team emerged Champion and have been invited to attend internationals in Panama.
Join us!
These competitions have accorded us an invaluable learning experience where we have learnt much about engineering and programming. Designing our own Printed Circuit Boards (PCB), utilising complex computer vision techniques, and implementing localisation and Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control algorithms is all part of the fun!
Do all these terms seem intimidating and foreign? Fret not as knowledge of these are not required to join and all of these will be taught by the Year 6 seniors and our very helpful coach as you progress along your robotics journey.
Incoming juniors will be grouped together with seniors and will receive guidance as they acquire new knowledge. CCA sessions are mostly hands-on where each team works on their robots where we learn through making mistakes and experience rather than a lecture-style format.
Undoubtedly, there will be times when nothing seems to work. You have no idea why your code is bugging out or why your sensors stop functioning. Your robot just fails to move, and all hope may seem lost. Nevertheless, you’ll have tons of fun working around these challenges and learning new things along the way! While going through the shared struggle with your teammates, you’ll forge strong bonds and make unforgettable memories with your CCA mates.
Though sometimes it can get intense, especially during peak periods, the satisfaction from seeing your robot work is like none other. If you’ve got a passion for robotics, what are you waiting for? Join us today!
