A Breakthrough for HKUST Teams in the 13th National University Students Technology Challenge Cup Competition

Six student teams from the HKUST School of Engineering and School of Science won one First Class Award （一等獎）, three Second Class Awards （二等獎） and two Third Class Awards （三等獎） in the 13th National University Students Technology Challenge Cup Competition （第十三屆“挑戰杯”全國大學生課外學術科技作品競賽） held in Soochow University（蘇州大學） in mid Oct 2013. This is the best result achieved by HKUST since our first participation in the 6th Challenge Cup in 1999.

Through open recruitment by the School of Engineering's Center for Global & Community Engagement (GCE), the School nominated six undergraduate projects to participate in this competition, which includes one Final Year Project, two Undergraduate Course Projects, and three Projects from the HKUST Robotics Team. There were 1 postgraduate student and 12 undergraduate students, in which 2 from Computer Engineering Program (CPEG), 5 from Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE), 4 from Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), and 1 from Department of Physics (PHYS), participating in this competition. The students are supervised by Prof Tim Woo, Director of the Center for Global & Community Engagement (GCE) and Associate Professor of Engineering Education.

The winning projects are:

First Class Award
WONG Yun Kei (MPhil/ECE)
- Quad-copter
Quad-copter is a small aircraft that is able to balance, hover and self-regulate when flying. It can be controlled by swaying the Android devices.

Second Class Awards
MAK Siu Fai (UG/MAE), TANG Hin Yan (UG/MAE) and TSE Chung Kwan (UG/CSE)
- Reconfigurable omni wheel system
A sub-system of the automatic robot from the HKUST Robocon team, reconfigurable omni wheel system provides an alternative for robots to cross over obstacle autonomously.

CHAN Wing Hong (UG/ECE) and ZHANG Linguang (UG/CPEG)
- Ballbot
Ballbot is a robot that is able to self-balance on a spherical object. It's high mobility allows it to do self-rotation and move in any direction.

CHEUNG Ho Kai (UG/ECE), IM Zhuo Quan (UG/PHYS), and CHUNG Chin Chun (UG/MAE)
- Pneumatic control system of underwater robot
Pneumatic control system of underwater robot, which is a sub-system from the HKUST ROV team, offers a reliable and easy-to-maintenance solution to make underwater robot arm.

Third Class Awards
TSANG Hao Fung (UG/CPEG)
- Robotics plotter arm
Robotics plotter arm acts like a human arm to draw vector graphic to give different feelings from printing. It can be used for manufacturing small amount of art works.

CHING Chun Hung (UG/MAE), MO Ka Kui (UG/CPEG), and SHAO Tzi Yang (UG/ECE)
- Intelligent balanced car
The intelligent balanced car is a self-balancing car that stands on only two wheels, allowing it to turn on the spot. It is also equipped with a linear imaging sensor that recognizes paths and obstacles, allowing it to navigate roads and slopes autonomously.

The Challenge Cup contest, which is known as the “Olympics” of science and technology for Chinese college students, was initiated in 1989 and is a biennial event held by CYL Central Committee, China Association for Science, Ministry of Education and the National Federation. It aims to encourage students to advocate science, pursuit true knowledge, study hard, be innovative, and meet challenges. The event attracted more than 1,000 entries from over 450 institutions from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.