Winners Of First Emirates Robotics Competition Announced

The winners of the first edition of the Emirates Robotics Competition were announced on Monday by Dubai Future Labs (DFL), an initiative of the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF), in collaboration with Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Khalifa University (KU). RIT received appreciation for hosting and supporting the competition throughout.

The chief guests were Meghan Gregonis, the United States Consul General Dubai, and the directors and presidents of all the participating Universities.

The competition was amongst 52 teams, out of which 17 teams belonged to local universities and the rest were from international universities across Dubai. A total of 21 teams from 12 colleges qualified for the final round comprising two major challenges Navigation and Manipulation.

Emirates Robotic Competition 2023

As per the announcement made by DFL, the Manipulation challenge took place between 7 teams and the team Shuri from Middlesex University Dubai topped the list. The second and third places were grabbed by the teams Robo Tigers and Robo Auto from RIT Dubai and Heriot-Watt University Dubai respectively.

While the rest of the 14 universities from the selected 21 teams participated in the Navigation challenge. In this challenge, the team Cognizance from Manipal University Dubai acquired the first position followed by the team’s Piston Sparks and ACMBITS from the University of Stirling RAK and BITS Pilani Dubai, respectively.

The Emirates Robotics Competition was organized by DFF with the objective of promoting young talents to make innovative technologies that can be adopted across different economic sectors to show its support towards the recently launched Dubai Robotics and Automation Program by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid, the Executive Chairman of Dubai Future Foundation and the Crown Prince of Dubai. 

The competition allowed entries from top research and educational institutions across Dubai. The participating teams of talented students were allowed to demonstrate how efficiently their innovations using advanced autonomous robotic technologies can perform specific tasks with lesser human interventions.

A wide range of robotic capabilities was presented by students such as picking and placing objects, tracking paths, sensing obstacles to stop and divert paths, navigating without assistance, sensing surroundings, and many more.

Dr. Yousef Al Assaf, the President of Rochester Institute of Technology acknowledged the participants, the host, the participating institutions, and respective dignitaries and said, ‘Making arrangements and hosting the first edition of Emirates Robotics Competition shows our yearnings towards nurturing young talents to provide them a platform to showcase their talents.

Nevertheless, the cooperation we received from DFL and Khalifa University is commendable. Without the support of these organizations, the competition could not have achieved its desired results. This competition holds to be a reference for future academic and industrial collaborations.

The competition has successfully paved the path for students to ramp up their technical skills to make an adequate contribution to the field of automation and artificial intelligence. The competition witnessed a commendable number of women participants demonstrating a future promoting inclusion and diversity.’

The Director of DFL, Khalifa Al Qama as part of his speech said, ‘DFF aims to bring forward UAE as the global leader of automated technologies through numerous initiatives and responsible activities. We focus on youth empowerment in the field of robotics and automation technologies by providing the necessary facilities and pieces of training to upskill themselves.

Such initiatives pave the path for strengthening the role of Dubai and the UAE in emerging a leader in technological transformations.’

Khalifa further added, ‘The participating teams showcased a varied range of robotic breakthrough innovations that have immense potential in making tremendous changes in the field of industrial automation and artificial intelligence.

The competition, in fact, has served as an excellent platform for young talents to demonstrate their technical knowledge by promoting a culture of innovation, inclusion, and transformation. It is definitely going to encourage students to learn the importance of teamwork and collaboration all while learning the industry relevant skills to contribute in making transformational innovations for the society.’

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The Executive Vice President, Dr. Arif Sultan of the KU, further said,’ I congratulate everyone who participated in the Emirates Robotics Competition. The winners have demonstrated excellent performance through their creative thinking capabilities and technical knowledge. Their innovations are truly commendable and are sure to make breakthrough transformations in the existing automation and robotic technologies.

With this, I wish to announce that the second edition of the Emirates Robotics Competition, hopefully in the next year, i.e., in 2024 will be hosted by Khalifa University. Also, I expect continued support from our collaborating partners DFL and RIT.

Together we aim to empower students to provide them with enough opportunities to bring out their hidden talent and encourage them to participate in future events like this.’

The panel of judges included robotic researchers, associate professors, engineers, CEOs, and Vice Presidents from different participating Universities, DFL who shortlisted the most talented teams based on certain exceptional criteria.