Bui Xuan Nguyen carefully wraps copper wires around the motor core - Photo: TRONG NHAN
Coming to Lac Hong University in early July, it is easy to see the bustling atmosphere in a familiar corner of the campus, where the robots of students preparing to enter the international robocon arena are being trained.
Members of the LH-UDS robocon team diligently adjusted the final details for the two robot "athletes" before leaving for Mongolia to compete.
Attention to detail
The group was divided into many small groups, each person in a corner, each corner in a stage. Four mechanics were busy disassembling and assembling the frame, welding machine parts, adjusting the wheels and joints to make them smooth. Two specialized in programming, two in winding the motor, two others in charge of the electrical part - circuit board and the remaining two in charge of the control system, calibrating the handle according to the user's operations.
Bui Xuan Nguyen is carefully winding copper wires onto the motor core. This job looks simple but requires extreme meticulousness. The wires must be even, the distance between the windings must be correct. The windings will be adjusted to suit the designed speed for the robot.
"Just a few millimeters of deviation will cause the motor to rotate unstably, affecting the robot's speed or throwing force," Nguyen explained as he worked. These copper wires are the core part that helps control the fast or slow speed of the motor, and in a competition like robocon, even a fraction of a second can make a difference.
Next to him, Man Ky Phuc was sitting in front of his laptop screen, his eyes glued to each line of code. They were diligently updating the robot control program to match the new changes in the mechanical parts.
"In addition, the image processing algorithm has been upgraded so that the robot can scan the board and identify targets better, especially the attacking robot must accurately aim to throw the basket at each angle."
"Robot Basketball"
Captain Lam Quoc Tho introduces the new design for the passing part of the defensive robot
In 2025, robocon brings a completely new playground with a basketball theme. Instead of traditional mechanical challenges such as climbing, passing or shooting hoops, this year the competing teams will enter a real "robot basketball" match, where two robots, one offensive and one defensive, must coordinate to score points.
During the limited time of the game, the attacking robot has the task of shooting the ball into the basket from different scoring positions (2, 3 or 7 points), while the opponent's defending robot will try to block it.
Lam Quoc Tho - captain of LH-UDS - said that in the matches, he will be in charge of controlling the defensive robot. This robot must be extremely fast and flexible to block the opponent's ball. If it is just a little slow, it will lose immediately.
After winning the national championship, the team sat down to figure out how to upgrade both robots - the attacker and the defender. For the attacker, the team decided to add a wheel, from three to four wheels to improve maneuverability. However, the problem was not simple because according to the regulations, the total weight of both robots could not exceed 50kg.
"If we want to add something, we have to remove something else, so we changed the design of the ball passing part of the defensive robot," Tho said.
Specifically, the ball-passing part, which used to be a separate, quite heavy module, was replaced by a flexible elastic band, which significantly reduced the weight and also increased flexibility. The team is racing against time to test the actual performance after the improvement, to see if any errors arise so that they can make adjustments before the deadline of July 28, the day the robot must be sent to the organizing committee for transportation to Mongolia.
"Once we send the robot, we have to wait until the end of August to meet again at the international competition stage. So now is the time to do our best so we won't have any regrets," Tho said.
Man Ky Phuc diligently edits code and upgrades the robot's performance.
Lac Hong University's LH-UDS team is preparing to enter the ABU Robocon final round in Mongolia - Photo: TRONG NHAN
Playground for engineering students
The ABU Robocon (Asia‑Pacific Robot Contest) organized by the Asia- Pacific Broadcasting Union since 2002 is the leading playground for engineering and technology students from countries in the region.
Each year, countries organize a unique competition theme, requiring self-designed robots to perform a series of highly technical and tactical tasks. The current ABU Robocon champion title belongs to The Chinese University of Hong Kong team with an impressive victory in the Quang Ninh - Vietnam season held in August 2024.
Vietnam has won this tournament seven times: 2002, 2004, 2006 (University of Technology, Ho Chi Minh City National University), 2014, 2017, 2018 (Lac Hong University) and 2015 ( Hung Yen University of Technical Education).
Highly competitive
MSc. Nguyen Dinh Dai, lecturer of the Faculty of Mechatronics and Electronics at Lac Hong University, was impressed with the working spirit of the students during this year's exam season. "They almost devoted all their time to the robot. There were days when they were in the workshop from early morning to late at night, only taking a short break at noon before continuing to fine-tune every detail," he said.
Regarding the upcoming ABU Robocon finals in Mongolia, Mr. Dai assessed that this year is a highly competitive season. Teams from Japan, China, Hong Kong, etc. are always formidable opponents. These teams have very strong technology foundations, especially image processing capabilities. Their robots analyze quickly, identify baskets accurately, so the hit rate is very high.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vao-lo-luyen-robot-di-thi-quoc-te-20250715102055545.htm
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