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College News
Viva! Another Victorious Win for ITE College Central’s Robo-Racers

Viva! Another Victorious Win for ITE College Central’s Robo-Racers

Mix a handful of talents, a spoonful of passion and a big packet of hope in one large melting pot and what do you get? A unique recipe that makes up ITE College Central, MacPherson Campus’ winning formula at the recent ROBO Grand Prix F1 Masters Race (ROBO Grand Prix).

A competition in which mobile robots - also called Robo-racers - race in a given course to determine which robot clocks the fastest lap time, the ROBO Grand Prix is an event never missed by those who are raring to demonstrate the racing prowess of their Robo-racers. Since ITE College Central, MacPherson Campus first participated in the ROBO Grand Prix in September 2002, its Robo-racers have achieved unrivalled success on the racing tracks.

Despite stiff competition from the Junior Colleges and Polytechnics, the teams from ITE College Central, MacPherson Campus have steadfastly defended their champion title in the JC/ITE category over the last three years. The teams’ recent performance at the 2005 ROBO Grand Prix, in February 2005 at Funan the IT Mall, was their most impressive so far. “Our boys certainly outdo themselves this time round. Our teams, Vegnagun, Swift Dream and Robotnic, did us proud by beating 27 other teams from seven Junior Colleges and five ITE Campuses, to garner the Championship title in the JC/ITE Category, Singapore School Open Category and Singapore RGP Open Category. However, our greatest triumph was to clinch the Champion of Champions title for the second year running,” shared an elated Mr Yee Chin Fei, Lecturer/Mechatronics, ITE College Central, MacPherson Campus and mentor to the teams.

Passion + Hardwork + Teamwork = Success
What is the teams’ winning formula? “Hard work, passion and teamwork,” chorused the three teams.

“Training for the competition involved a lot of hard work and sacrifices. When a competition drew near, we would spend whatever free time we have on training, so much so that we actually see our Robo-racers more than we see our family members and friends,” said a team member, William Lee Hong Siang, 18, final-year Nitec in Mechatronics student. Not only was training intensive, participating in the competition also required students to have an in-depth knowledge of programming and the various component parts needed to build the fastest Robo-racer.

Another team member, Hansel Koh, 18, recounted one teething challenge faced by the teams: “We were supposed to programme our Robo-racers using the C Language Programming. But the programme was thoroughly new to us. Fortunately we had already learnt Java programming in ITE, so that foundation helped us to pick up the new software knowledge in record time.”

Medals Are Not All That Matter
Thanks to their passion for robotics and a strong commitment to bring glory to their College, the teams were driven to succeed. And through it all, they even picked up some valuable lessons. “We learnt to tap on each others’ talents,” added William. “The ones who are more creative will be responsible for designing the looks of our Robo-racer while those who are stronger in programming will programme the racer to maneuver the track in the fastest time possible”.

At the end of the day, the teams professed that winning was not all that mattered to them. Hansel explained: “What was really important was that we’ve picked up new knowledge, gained new experiences and made many new friends.”