Peking University, May. 29, 2012: The 2012 Underwater Robot Competition of China and the first International Underwater Robot Open was held at Nanjing University during May 19 to 20. Over 120 teams from 24 Universities in China, America, Netherlands and Korea participated. PKU team from College of Engineering claimed one first place and one second place.

The PKU team was led by Associate Professor Xie Guangming, director of Intelligent Control Lab. It has over 10 members who are undergraduate or postgraduate students. Apart from the remarkable results they achieved, an amphibious robot called “Chinese Dragon” newly developed by the lab made its debut in the competition, attracting lots of attention from the audience.

Professor Xie Guangming commented that robots can substitute human beings for many things, such as detecting environmental variations, interacting with human beings as toys and even spying for military uses. Currently the man-made ships or submarines leave much to be desired in terms of mobility and efficiency, which calls for learning from and imitating the nature.

The competition consists of four leagues, including global-vision, 2D simulation, autonomous and free innovation. One exciting event is the underwater robot water polo game. The rules are similar to the real polo game but the players are now coded robo-fishes, controlled by the students, or even by themselves (in autonomous league). Three international teams took part in the 1 V.S. 1 water polo game of global-vision league, including a team of only four students from the famous West Point in U.S. Unfortunately, these international teams were outplayed by teams from China and didn’t make it through early rounds. PKU team came top in the 1 V.S. 1 water polo game of autonomous league, which is the most challeging event of the competition, and was runner-up in "catching the ball" game of 2D simulation league.

Robo-fishes in the water polo game

This year’s competition is by far the biggest, the most influential and the most technically challenging one, and was reported by lots of media like CCTV. Some news videos can be viewed here:

video 1

video 2 

Extended Reading

The Underwater Robot Competition of China is organized by Robot Competition Committee of Chinese Association of Automation (RCCCAA). Created entirely by Chinese people, it is the first of its kind around the world and has been held annually since 2008. The major subjects are underwater robots otherwise known as robo-fishes, which are required to compete in various kinds of competitions in water like water ballet and polo. The challenges of technology and the virtuosity of robot performances make the competition a perfect combination of science and art.

Alongside the competition, academic symposiums on robots and automation are held, during which specialists of the field worldwide are invited to lecture and excellent student’s papers selected.

Since the competition requires comprehensive use of advanced technologies and is highly competitive, it has become an increasingly important platform to foster innovative talents in the field, promote robot technology and nurture the robot industry.

Written by: Fang Runiu and Chen Long
Edited By: Chen Long
Source: PKU News (Chinese)