KUCHING – In their first attempt at the Freescale Cup, the two teams from Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus swept the first and second runners-up trophies in Kuala Lumpur, recently.
Swinburne Sarawak’s Team 2, made up of Sim Meng Hong and Jeremy Chia Wei Liang, took first runner-up while its Team 1, which comprised of Riady Siswoyo Jo and Jason Yeo Kok Seng, were declared second runner-up.
Participating teams have to build, program, and race a model car around a track for speed. The fastest car to complete the track without derailing is declared the winner.
Formerly known as Smart Car Competition, the competition is a program by Freescale, a US manufacturer of microcontrollers, microprocessors and semiconductors, to promote engineering in the classroom.
The competition is open to local and private universities in Malaysia and each team comprises of three plus one lecturer as advisor.
The two Swinburne Sarawak teams were led by Professor Nazim Mir-Nasiri, coordinator for robotics and mechatronics programs at Swinburne Sarawak, and Hudyjaya Siswoyo Jo, a teaching assistant from the university’s School of Engineering, Computing and Science.
“This good achievement by members of the Swinburne Robotic and Automation Club demonstrates that our students are able to take on tough challenges and sail through them successfully,” said Professor Nazim.
“They came up with a perfect design and a unique control strategy (machine intelligence). I believe that the experience they gained from this competition will make them technically stronger and give them the confidence to win national or international competitions in future.”
Added Hudyjaya: “It was challenging as each team was given the same tools and hardware by the organizer so the students need to be technically capable and creative to work within this limitation. Winning the two top places shows that our students are able to apply what they have learnt in the classrooms to real-life challenges.”
A total of 40 teams from 19 local public and private universities took part in the competition. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia KL emerged champion.