Robots by Amrita University students win 5 awards in Singapore

Coimbatore: A coconut tree climbing robot is among five awards won by Amiritha University students at a Asia competition in Singapore. While the coconut tree climbing robot won the Best Mechanical Design award, a staircase-cleaning robot, room-cleaning robot, a gesture-based navigational robot and a hand-orthosis robot for stroke patients, were among the award winners at the recent OMRG Asia competition, where 20 teams from various countries participated,a university release said.

The robotic coconut-tree climber, the hand-orthosis robot for stroke patients, the gesture-based navigational robot and staircase-cleaning robot bagged prizes in the Open Category, while the autonomous room-cleaning robot won the second prize in the Under 18 category. The coconut-tree climber named Amaran was judged 'Best Mechanical Design and ClePa, the staircase cleaning robot, was declared the “Best Marketable Design, it said.

The robots were designed by students as part of Humanitarian Technology (HuT) Labs of University’s Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering. The University intends to develop the robots further and introduce them in the market, Hut Director, Dr Rajesh Kannan Megalingam, said in a release here.

This is a huge achievement for Amrita University as well as the country as instances of Indians winning robotic contests outside India are rare. Of the several universities from Asia which participated in the OMRG contest, Amrita was the only one to win more than two prizes, he said. OMRG Asia 2016 (One Moment of Robot Glory Asia) was organized by EDU Studio Solutions of Singapore.