A Piece of the Story of "The Robot Team's Journey to America"
This story is taken from “Travel Notes to the 2011 Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest and RoboWaiter Competition, USA” by Dr. Kusprasapta Mutijarsa on his account on the social networking site Facebook.
Participation of the Indonesian robot team in the Competition 2011 International Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest and RoboWaiter This began with the Indonesian Robot Contest and the Indonesian Intelligent Robot Contest (KRI-KRCI) which are held annually by the Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of National Education. In these activities, universities from various places in Indonesia compete to create robots for specific purposes. In the Indonesian Intelligent Robot Contest (KRCI), students compete to create fire-fighting robots, namely robots that can search for and extinguish candle flames in a room. The robots created can be wheeled robots and legged robots. In the 2010 KRCI, the first place winner for the wheeled category was a team from Gadjah Mada University and the first place winner for the legged robot category was a team from the Bandung Institute of Technology. In recognition of this victory, the Ministry of National Education sent both teams to the 2011 Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest and RoboWaiter International Competition at Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut, USA on April 9-10, 2011.
Trinity College Fire Fighting Home Robot Contest and RoboWaiter Competition (TCFFHCRC)
TCFFHCRC is a firefighting robot competition held annually since 1994. Students from junior high and high school, college students, and practitioners participated in the competition. In the 2011 event, 135 robots competed. Several countries participated in the competition, including the USA, China, Portugal, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Indonesia. The competition was divided into several categories: Junior Division, High School Division, Senior Division, Expert Division, Walking Division, RoboWaiter Entry Level, and RoboWaiter Advanced.
Indonesian Robot Team
The Indonesian robotics team, funded by the Ministry of National Education, entered four robots. Two wheeled robots, built by students from Gadjah Mada University (UGM), competed in the Senior Division, and two legged robots, built by students from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), competed in the Walking Division.
Based on these results, the two wheeled robots from UGM won first and second place. Two legged robots from ITB also won first and second place. Each winner received a medal and plaque. In addition, the first place winner received a prize of USD 300 and the second place winner received a prize of USD 200.
In addition to the robots funded by the Ministry of National Education, there were also robots from Indonesia that participated in the competition at their own expense, namely the team from the Indonesian Computer University (UNIKOM). UNIKOM sent 3 robots, where two robots competed in the RoboWaiter Entry Level category and one robot in the RoboWaiter Advance category. These robots also won first and second place for the RoboWaiter Entry Level category and first place for the RoboWaiter Advanced category. So, of the 7 robots from Indonesia, all of them achieved success and won the title.
Team Members
The Indonesian contingent that departed at the expense of the Ministry of National Education numbered 13 people:
1. Prof Jamasri, UGM, Pimpinan Kontingen
2. Dr. Heru Santoso Budi Rochardjo, UGM, Juri Nasional Kontes Robot Indonesia
3. Dr. Nadjamuddin Ramly, DIKTI, Pendamping
4. Drs. Djuharto Suradi, DIKTI, Pendamping
5. Dr. Kusprasapta Mutijarsa, ITB, Pembimbing Tim Robot
6. Farid Inawan, UGM, Tim Robot Beroda
7. Noer Aziz Ismail, UGM, Tim Robot Beroda
8. Wahyu Wijayanto, UGM, Tim Robot Beroda
9. Luiz Rizki Ramelan, UGM, Tim Robot Beroda
10. Syawaludin Rachmatullah, ITB, Tim Robot Berkaki
11. Ashlih Dameitry, ITB, Tim Robot Berkaki
12. Samratul Fuady, ITB, Tim Robot Berkaki
13. Dody Suhendra, ITB, Tim Robot Berkaki