Teams from HKUST have come up trumps with "medal-winning" performances at the so-called Olympics of science and technology for Chinese college students, representing the University's best-ever result at the National University Students Technology Challenge Cup Competition.

 

Six teams, composed of students from the Schools of Engineering and Science, garnered one First Class Award, three Second Class Awards and two Third Class Awards at the 13th edition of the Cup, held at Soochow University in October 2013. All were supervised by Prof Tim Woo, Director of the Center for Global & Community Engagement and Associate Professor of Engineering Education.

 

The First Class Award was won by MPhil student Yun Kei Wong, Electronic and Computer Engineering (ECE), for a project involving a quad-copter controlled by swaying Android devices. 

 

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE)'s Siu Fai Mak and Hin Yan Tang and Computer Science and Engineering (CSE)'s Chung Kwan Tse, all undergraduates, received a Second Class Award for their reconfigurable omni wheel system that provides an alternative for robots to get over obstacles autonomously.

 

Also winning Second Class Awards were undergraduates Wing Hong Chan, ECE, and Linguang Zhang, Computer Engineering Program (CPEG), for Ballbot – a robot that is able to self-balance on a spherical object; as did fellow undergraduates Ho Kai Cheung, ECE, and Ching Chun Chung, MAE, and a teammate from the Department of Physics for their pneumatic control system for an underwater robot.

 

CPEG undergraduate Hao Fung Tsang received a Third Class Award for his robotics plotter arm that draws vector graphics. Undergraduates Chun Hung Ching, MAE, Ka Kui Mo, CPEG, and Tzi Yang Shao, ECE, also received a Third Class Award for their intelligent balanced car.

 

The Challenge Cup is a biennial event held by CYL Central Committee, China Association for Science, Ministry of Education and the National Federation. This year's event attracted more than 1,000 entries from over 450 institutions from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.