The ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU Robocon) is an Asian-Oceanian college robot competition, founded in 2002 by Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. In the competition robots compete to complete a task within a set period of time. The contest aims to create friendship among young people with similar interests who will lead their countries in the 21st century, as well as help advance engineering and broadcasting technologies in the region. The event is broadcast in many countries through ABU member broadcasters.
History and format
ABU Robocon extended the concept from NHK Robocon which started in 1991 and restricted to teams from Japan only.
Each year the competition has different topics, but generally speaking, two or more robots must be used to complete the tasks. One of the robots would be manual control while the others are automatic. The best robots usually weight more than 10 kg and span in one square meter area. To build the robots, contestants, who are restricted to be undergraduate students, must possess rich knowledge in programming, mechanical design and electronic circuit design.
Each game is between two teams, often named red and blue. The playing field is symmetrical and robots from both teams start in the same condition (except for Robocon 2015 which employed a turn-based game based on badminton).
A typical game (except for Robocon 2015) lasts for three minutes but can end sooner if one team achieve a K.O victory which immediately finishes the game. In case that no teams achieve the K.O condition, the team that gets a higher score after three minutes will be declared a winner.
Earlier editions of Robocon tend to emphasize the competitiveness of the game, in which winners achieve their win by employing strategic approaches to deploy their robots as well as preventing their opponent from reaching the goal. For example, this strategy was notable in Vietnam's win in Robocon 2004 and 2006, and China's win in Robocon 2008. To mitigate the problems, later editions reduce the combat nature and put more emphasis on technology, designing and making the robot perform complicated maneuvers, which require teams to be more creative on designing robots.
Logos for Competition
Recent Competitions
ABU Robocon 2022
ABU Robocon 2022 will be scheduled at Delhi, India and the game will be based on the game of lagori. In this game, two teams will design two robots, with each team will take turn playing as seeker and hitter. The seeker's first robot will first break the pile of stones using three small balls. Then the seeker's second robot will rebuild the pile of stones, but it also carries a ball on its head. The hitter's robot would attempt to throw their own balls to dislodge the ball on the seeker's head, and the round immediately ends once they succeeded. The team scores points based on the number of stones they displaced and then rebuilt, with the teams scoring more points declared the winner.
ABU Robocon 2021
ABU Robocon 2021 was originally scheduled at Jimo, China and the game was based on the traditional game of East Asian countries pitch-pot, or throwing arrows to a pot. In this game, each team designs two robots. One robot can pick up arrows and throw them to the five pots located on the field, but is restricted to the outer area of the field. The other robot, in addition to throwing arrows from the outer area, can navigate through both the outer and inner area of the field, rotating pots, blocking throwing attempts of the opponent, or handing leftover arrows on the field to the first robot. Team scores point based on the number of arrows thrown into each pot, but if a team got the arrow to all five pots, they will achieve the K.O victory which immediately ends the game.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the onsite contest was not held. The participants instead did a demonstration run of their robots at their local universities as a one-player game.
ABU Robocon 2020
ABU Robocon 2020 was originally scheduled to host in Suva, Fiji and the game will be based on Fiji's national sport rugby. The theme is "ROBO RUGBY 7s", in this game, each team designs two robots, one as pass robot, and another as try robot. Each can either be manual or automated. The pass robot will pick up the rugby balls, and the try robot needs to either place them to the trying spot, or to kick the ball passing through a pole. Team scores points depending on the step and the zone location, but points can be awarded to the opponent's team if the kicking ball lands on the opponent's zone. The game ends when three minutes had passed, or when all seven kicking balls (shared for both teams) have been kicked.