KATHMANDU, Jan 29: The second edition of BattleBot was held on the sidelines of Subisu CAN Info-Tech 2018 being organized at the Bhrikutimandap Exhibition Ground. BattleBot 2.0 was jointly organized by Online Media Group (OMG) and Robotics Association of Nepal (RAN) in support of Khalti on January 27-28. As many as 18 teams of different school and college-level robot enthusiasts had participated and reveled in the two-day affair.
The competition had two categories — Manual Destructive Robo Fight (10 Kg) and Small Weight Robo Fight (two Kg). Among the 18 teams, 12 entered the battle arena on the first day while the remaining six battled on the second day. Each robot entered a round arena to prove its capability and power. Each had to knock its opponent out of the arena, for which they would gain three points. One who won in the three rounds excelled to the next level.
Stage set for CAN Info-Tech 2018
Robot Robokath knocked out Killerbot and won the 10-kg category while The Deadbot knocked out Jarvish 2.0 and won the two kg category. The winners won a cash prize of Rs 10,000 and the runner-ups bagged Rs 5,000 each.
The winners were announced and awarded by the Head of Department Electronics and Communication Engineering at Khwopa Engineering College and chief guest for the competition Rabindra Phoju. Phoju commented that the competition had prototype version of robots and promoted entertainment as well as educational aspects of the field. “The exposure to robotics is slowly increasing because of these competitions and apt opportunities to increase interest among school level students. With this, they can further train themselves in the field, but ample amount of research along with government investment are still required to make reforms.”
Organizers of the competition said it was held to highlight the importance of robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Nepal. “The initiative was also to showcase the talent that Nepal has in the field and also to make a social impact,” said Exposure event manager at CAN Info-Tech Upendra Dhungana.
The BattleBot competition had started in last year's CAN Info-Tech with an initiation from OMG, a group of social media groups like Troll Nepal, Meme Nepal and Routine of Nepal Banda. Last year's competition was a one-day affair and saw a total of eight teams.
