Society for the Study of Robotics students win judges’ award at Catchrobo Battle Contest 2024
Team Kogyo to Kagaku from the Society for the Study of Robotics — an official student club of the Institute* — have won the Special Judges’ Award during their top 8 finish at Catchrobo Battle Contest 2024. This year’s contest, the 14th of its kind, was held on September 14 and 15 and was supported by Kyoto Seisakusho Co., Ltd.
The Catchrobo Battle Contest, a robotics contest held since 2011, is open to technical colleges and universities from all over Japan. The theme of the contest is "Can machines surpass human hands?" Participants compete by using their robot to grasp a workpiece and then handle it. Handling refers to moving and then storing the workpiece in a designated place.
This year, a total of 70 teams competed in the contest. The target workpiece and detailed rules vary each year. The competition title for 2024 was “Catch the Seto Shio,” which meant that competitors had to grasp and handle as many Seto Shio rice crackers as they could in three minutes. Points were awarded based on the number of crackers collected from the field and placed in designated boxes. Bonus points were awarded for placing crackers in boxes with designated colors. The winner was the team with the highest total points.
The preliminary round consisted of two matches, with the 16 highest-scoring teams advancing to the final. In the first qualifying match, Team Kogyo to Kagaku scored six bonus points three times, and achieved a total of 47 points. In the second qualifying match, they improved to 52 points, giving them access to the final tournament.
Although Team Kogyo to Kagaku did not win in the final, they received the Special Judges' Award from Associate Professor Yuki Minami of Osaka University. They were commended for the high degree of completion in their robot, but also for a unique collection box that allowed them to collect workpieces rapidly and efficiently, and then deposit them in one go in the destination location.
Team Kogyo to Kagaku members
- Ken Namba, 2nd-year master’s student, Materials Science and Engineering
- Toshiyuki Oshima, 2nd-year master’s student, Systems and Control Engineering
- Reiji Terunuma, 2nd-year master’s student, Systems and Control Engineering
- Sena Kato, 2nd-year master’s student, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Kazuma Nonomura, 2nd-year master’s student, Electrical and Electronic Engineering
- Yuta Tsukamoto, 2nd-year master’s student, Mechanical Engineering
Comments from team members
Team leader Ken Namba
Head of mechanical design
All members of our team were master's students, and we put together the robot in a tight time frame. We were conscious of moving up our schedule as much as possible. I am pleased that we were able to surpass our goal of advancing to the final tournament and finishing in the top 8.
When creating our robot, we focused particularly on the mechanism for placing collected workpieces in the destination location together in one go. We are happy that the judges appreciated it.
This team was formed by members from Team Maquinista from the Society for the Study of Robotics, who took part in the NHK Robot Contest. We had some regrets because we were not able to achieve our goals as undergraduate students due to covid-19. But this time, we were able to achieve this result, and I am glad that we have continued to participate in robot competitions.
Reiji Terunuma
Head of control software development
This was our second consecutive year to participate in this contest. Last year, we lost in the first round due to a lack of completion in our robot, which was a disappointing result. Therefore, the team made improvements based on the lessons learned from last year's competition. As a result, we gladly take home this special award from the judges.
I applied my knowledge of control theory, which I have accumulated through my studies at the Department of Systems and Control Engineering, to motor control and the creation of a control system that is easy to use for the operator. I was able to utilize my area of expertise in systems and control, but also my experience in designing easy-to-control machines, designing circuits for handling, and other abilities, all of which contributed to the final product.
I feel that, through this competition, I was able to demonstrate the systems and control knowledge I have acquired, as well as the skills I have built up at the Society for the Study of Robotics. I hope to make use of this experience in my own research in the future.
*Tokyo Medical and Dental University and Tokyo Institute of Technology merged on October 1, 2024, to form Institute of Science Tokyo (Science Tokyo).
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