Robocon – the heart of Lac Hong

Robocon Lac Hong's teams participate in the Southern regional qualifying round held at the Rach Mieu Sports House, Phu Nhuan district, HCM city.

 

The theme of Robocon 2011 is “Loy Krathong, Lighting Happiness with Friendship”. Loy Krathong is a traditional festival of Thailand held to honor and pay homage to the Goddess of water. Loy Krathong is solemnly celebrated during the full moon of the 12th Lunar month which usually falls in November. A Krathong was a small raft traditionally made from banana leaves and banana tree trunk. People often decorate all forms of rafts with flowers, candles and incense sticks before floating them on the river. One of the reasons why the Loy Krathong festival is held is to ask for forgiveness to the things that they have done to the rivers, making them polluted. Before floating rafts on the river, people often make wishes for a bright, prosperous, and happier future.

Each Robocon team will have up to three robots - one manual and two automatic machines. These machines have the task to decorate flower garlands and coloured lanterns and float them on the river. The winner will be the team with the first completion of dropping the lanterns within three minutes. This is called "Loy Krathong".

 

This year, there were 13 teams from Lac Hong University participating in the regional qualifying round taken place on April 7, 8, and 9, 2011. The teams will compete to choose the top 12 teams advancing to the national final competition in forthcoming May.

 

The name Lac Hong has been in association with Robocon as an inseparable cohesion. Talking about Lac Hong, people refer to Robocon and vice versa. The reason for this is because Lac Hong University became the champion of Robocon Vietnam 2010 for the first time and they took second place in the 2010 Asia-Pacific Robocon contest, held in Cairo, Egypt. It is not by chance that people compare "Robocon as the heart of Lac Hong". The heart is always bursting with excitement and happiness when Lac Hong gains victories.  The completion of Loy Krathongs again and again makes it so thrilled that people cannot describe.

 

In the southern regional qualifying round, teams of Lac Hong have proved their strength when they have 12 absolute wins. As a result of the final regional qualifying round, 12 teams including 6 teams from Lac Hong University have been selected to enter final round of Robocon Vietnam 2011, which will be held in Da Nang from May 9-15.

 

Again, wishing Robocon Lac Hong continuing success in forthcoming competitions in Vietnam and in Thailand as well.