Institution news
The competition comes with the intention to cultivate teamwork, application of imagination and analytical skills to invent, to promote STEM skills, design and turn ideas into products among young engineers.
According to SEAR Young Member Rep, Ir. Dr. Chua Yaw Long who was also involved in organising the competition, this competition was the first ever international competition held within SEAR and was opened to all student chapters in the South East Asian region.
The competition comprised two categories: the Diploma category and the Degree category. A total of 29 participants from over eight teams from four universities participated. The teams are from Malaysia as well as Singapore student chapters. Asia Pacific University, University Malaya, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman from Malaysia, and Republic Polytechnic of Singapore all participated in the competition. Three judges from Malaysia and Singapore were invited from the industries in the evaluation of the design developed by the teams.
The participating degree category teams were required to use CX-Programmer and CX-Designer for the PLC design while the diploma teams were required to use Automation Studio for their design. Each category had a separate question for the competition.
Aims of the event
The competition has the following aims.
· To motivate and test the participants skills in using PLC design software.
· To create a forum for young and talented students to compete among themselves.
· To cultivate teamwork, understanding and skills within a short span of time.
· To promote STEM skills to students studying in different institutes of Malaysia and Singapore.
· To gain experience, to aid in identification of lagging skills and to prepare to be skilful engineers to make valuable contributions to society.
The event was split into 3 parts: A practice workshop, the competition date, and the award ceremony. The practice workshop was conducted on 3 July, the competition on 10 July and the award ceremony was carried out on 31 July 2021.
Team One from Asia Pacific University of Technology emerged Champion for the Degree Category while Team Warriors from Republic Polytechnic Singapore won the Champion for Diploma category.
The champions of each category received cash prize of RM1000 and certificate of achievement, while the 1st runner-ups received cash prize of RM500 and certificate of achievement. The other teams who participated the competition received certificate of participation.