The AI Robot "warriors" from DTU claimed the top prize at the National finals of the "ROBO G 2024" competition, held in Ho Chi Minh City on September 22nd.
"The Suff" and "DTU_Titan" team at the "ROBO G 2024" competition
"ROBO G 2024" is a programming and technology development competition focused on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), held by IPPTech, UBTECH, and Van Lang University under the theme "Exploring AI." The competition attracted a large number of students from high schools and universities with strengths on IT education, robotics research and design.
Participating institutions included: University of Technology - Vietnam National University HCMC, Lac Hong University, Duy Tan University, University of Science - Hue University, Van Lang University, University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology HCMC, Binh Duong University of Economics and Technology, and a mixed team of students from the University of Economics HCMC, University of Technology HCMC, and University of Economics and Law - Vietnam National University HCMC.
Conquering the "ROBO G 2024" Arena
DTU students triumphed in the national "ROBO G 2024" competition, winning many awards in the C/C++ division, which is primarily for university students: one Special, one First, one Second, and one Innovative Idea Award.
By securing the highest award, DTU team named “The Suff” advanced to the ROBO G 2-2025 World Finals in China in February 2025.
The national ROBO G 2024 was divided into three divisions:
- Division A: For contestants aged from 7-14,
- Division B: For contestants aged from 13-18,
- Division C/C++: For contestants aged from 15-23.
In the competition, participating teams equipped themselves with UBTECH AI Robotics kits to tackle the challenge of programming AI robots and completing tasks on a physical model. In the finals, teams in the C/C++ division programmed their robots based on the theme "The Future of AI Robots."
Using the same humanoid robot design, Yanshee, and the UGOT kit, the teams applied different AI programming innovations to accomplish the tasks outlined in the competition, including voice recognition, color recognition, character recognition, facial recognition, and controlling robot movements such as climbing stairs, crossing barriers, grabbing objects, and dropping objects.
The Suff and DTU_Titan teams confidently conquered the competition with their intelligently programmed robots
In the C/C++ division, DTU's two teams, The Suff and DTU_Titan, excelled by outperforming all other teams to win most of the major awards:
Special and First awards: The Suff team of three members: Tran Duy Khai, Nguyen Le Anh Tuan, and Bui Thi Bich Hieu, programmed their robot with highly flexible competition strategies, delivering remarkable accuracy and stability.
One of the standout features was their creation of a robot with exceptional directional awareness, capable of precisely self-correcting when encountering deviations.
While other teams relied on a "blind" approach, The Suff team utilized signals from the gyro sensor to enable their robot to move in a straighter path and determine its direction accurately.
In addition, the team's programming of perfect voice and facial recognition capabilities allowed their robot to consistently earn full points in these two tasks.
The Suff’s robot was the first and only one to successfully move from the starting point to the finish line during the ROBO G 2024 National Finals.
Second and Innovative idea Awards: The DTU_Titan team of four members: Pham Vu Khanh Truong, Phan Duc Tai, Nguyen Le Phuong, and Vo Thanh Tung, used advanced algorithms to program a smart robot with highly effective strategies to achieve high scores.
One of their key strategies was having the robot move close to the wall to realign itself before tackling the tasks of overcoming barriers and climbing stairs. Therefore, the DTU_Titan team’s robot successfully completed these tasks, while robots made by other teams often struggled and toppled during these challenges.
The DTU_Titan team was only slightly unlucky during the final stretch, as changes in lighting interfered with the signal, causing their robot to misidentify the direction.
The intense, focused moments of competition for The Suff and DTU_Titan teams
The robots by two DTU teams showcased exceptional accuracy in recognition and movement, successfully completing all six tasks set by the organizers, while many other teams managed to complete only 2 or 3 tasks or, at best, 4 tasks.
Both DTU_Titan and The Suff completed all the advanced tasks, greatly increasing their chances of ultimate victory.
The full scope of the national "ROBO G 2024"
Mastering the Technology
Tran Duy Khai, The Suff team leader, shared: "Although we only became familiar with the robot in a short time, the AI and ML programming knowledge we learned at DTU helped us quickly master the technology to program the robot in the best way. We had the opportunity to study Yanshee robots and practice with state-of-the-art equipment to design our robot at DTU's STEM&FAB Labs.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the faculty at the DTU School of Computer Science, the DTU School of Engineering, STEM&FAB Labs, and the DTU Board of Provosts for their guidance, support, encouragement, and for creating the conditions for us to perfect our project and participate in this competition.
In the coming time, The Suff will face even bigger challenges as we continue to upgrade the features of the Yanshee Robot, while also collaborating with the UGOT Robot to overcome the challenges in the World Finals in China in February 2025."
Awards at the C/C++ Division Finals of ROBO G 2024:
• Special and First award: The Suff team from DTU.
• Second and Innovative Idea award: DTU_Titan team from DTU.
• Third award: HUFLIT AI PIONEERS and HUFLIT Robotics teams from the University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology, HCMC.
• Consolation Prize: LHU_BRIGHT team from Lac Hong University and the ROBOTRONIX team, a group from three universities: University of Economics HCMC, University of Technology HCMC, and University of Economics and Law, Vietnam National University HCMC.
(Media Center)