Held virtually for the first time from the 4th to the 5th of December 2021, the Grand Finals of the Petrosains RBTX Challenge 2021 included three categories, namely Robo Tracer, Robo Sumo and Innovation which was open to primary and secondary school students as well as the public.
This year, a total of 345 teams with a total of more than 600 participants registered to compete in the Petrosains RBTX Challenge. The teams then competed in the Virtual Qualifying round where 102 teams advanced to the Grand Finals. Meanwhile, the finalists for the Innovation categories were selected from a shortlisting process by a panel of judges from Petrosains and academic advisors.
During the Grand Finals, participants were judged by a selected panel of judges comprising of academics and representatives from PETRONAS and SenseTime. Winners received cash prizes worth more than RM20,000 with third-place winners receiving RM500 each and second-runner up winners taking home RM1,000 each. Meanwhile, the winners of each category were awarded RM1,500. All winners also received The event was attended by Ezarisma Azni Mohamad, Chief Executive Officer of Petrosains, representatives from the Ministry of Education and PETRONAS as well as friends, families and supporters of the participants.
The Petrosains RBTX Challenge was first introduced in 2018 by Petrosains, The Discovery Centre, PETRONAS’ corporate social responsibility arm in the pillar of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education. It is a programme where all robotic enthusiasts gather to learn, discover, and battle their robotic creations on a common platform. The programme aims to provide a mutual hub that allows more people to share their interest in scientific and technological fields through hands-on creation specifically in robotics. Besides supporting the vision and aspiration of the Malaysia Education Blueprint through mastering higher order thinking skills and the ability to innovate, the challenge was also tailored to provide school students with basic designing, coding and sensor training in robotic development and educate the public on the evolving digital era driven by the convergence of advanced technologies such as robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IOT).
The Petrosains RBTX Challenge was supported by the Ministry of Education and PETRONAS through the PETRONAS Project Delivery and Technology (PD&T) division as well as Microsoft Malaysia and SenseTime as competition partners and sponsors. It was also assisted by academic advisors from prestigious educational institutions such as Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, International Islamic University Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Malaysia Pahang and Politeknik Malaysia Kota Kinabalu.
In her official speech, Datin Sri Hjh. Nor Zamani Abdol Hamid, The Director-General of Education Malaysia, said “The Ministry of Education welcomes collaborative opportunities that will support and enhance efforts to increase interest in STEM education amongst students, teachers as well as parents. The ongoing collaboration between the Ministry and Petrosains through various initiatives including the Petrosains RBTX Challenge has brought a positive impact in encouraging students to be more interested in STEM and to pursue STEM education and careers.”
Ezarisma Azni Mohamad, Chief Executive Officer of Petrosains said, “With the digitalisation
of STEM in the new era of education, Petrosains hopes to assist and be the hub of digital transformation through building and nurturing of technology advancement skills such as robotics, coding and embedded programming. We are grateful to have the full support and assistance of the Ministry of Education and honoured to have PETRONAS, Microsoft Malaysia and SenseTime to come on board this year as partners in this competition.”
LIST OF WINNERS
Category: Robo Tracer Junior (6-12 Years Old)
Winner: AdamBot09, Beaconhouse Sri Lethia
First Runner Up: Ubest KB, SJKC Chung Hwa
Third Place: ROBOSiMPS, SK Sinar Mutiara
Category: Robo Tracer Advance (13-17 Years Old)
Winner: SAKTI Premier Rush, SM Sains Kota Tinggi
First Runner Up: Dro-Namix, SM Sains Dungun
Third Place: TYPHOON, SMK Sura & SM Sains Dungun.
Category: Robo Tracer Open
Winner: SPENSABAYA, Junior High School 1 Surabaya
First Runner Up: Republik Ganendra, Muhammadiyah 4 Pucang Surabaya Elementary School & Shafira Surabaya Kindergarten
Third Place: Microbot Darkstar
Category: Robo Sumo Junior (6-12 Years Old)
Winner: SUPRA SKV2, SK Seri Gading
First Runner Up: SQandar Robot Sumo Team, SK Seri Iskandar
Third Place: SKST, SK Seri Tasek
Category: Robo Sumo Advance (13-17 Years Old)
Winner: SAKTI Phoenix, SM Sains Kota Tinggi
First Runner Up: AERO KOGEKI, SMK Kompleks KLIA
Third Place: SAKTI Beta, SM Sains Kota Tinggi
Category: Innovation Junior (6-12 Years Old)
Winner: THE INCREDIBLE FORCE – SJKC Jalan Davidson
First Runner Up: YC KIDZ RANGER – SJKC Yuk Chai
Third Place: SAIRIAN WYRON – SA Al-Islahiyah Rendah
Most Promising Award: Trio SKDT – SK Durian Tunggal
Most Promising Award: SRISKU Robotics – SK Sri Skudai
Category: Innovation Advance (13-17 Years Old)
Winner: SCB INNOVATION – SMK Kota Masai
First Runner Up: JEO – SMK Batu Lintang
Third Place: TROPBOTZ- SMK Tropicana
Most Promising Award: IZMZ – Pusat GENIUS Pintar Negara
Most Promising Award: GENZ – SMA Majlis Agama Islam Wilayah Persekutuan
Category: Innovation Varsity
Winner: CURIOSITY – International Islamic University Malaysia
First Runner Up: XINGJO – Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Third Place: UiTM 1- Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM)
Most Promising Award: UMT MARIINE – Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
Most Promising Award: X-WING – Universiti Malaysia Pahang
Most Promising Award: UTP 2 – Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS
Petrosains, The Discovery Centre, is an exciting and contemporary science discovery centre that features interactive exhibits and vibrant STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programmes. With the aim of inspiring people and enriching lives through the delivery of customer-centric experiences and impactful learning, Petrosains has established many outreach offerings including mini science centres across the nation (Petrosains PlaySmarts), travelling exhibitions (PETRONAS StreetSmart), national level competition (Petrosains RBTX Challenge), community events (Petrosains Science Festival) and many others. Petrosains also engages with its audiences through digital offerings such as the Petrosains website, learning blogs and social media platforms.
Petrosains was established by PETRONAS in 1999 as part of its corporate social responsibility initiative in the pillar of education to provide a rich and stimulating environment to enhance science literacy in the nation and ignite the passion for life-long knowledge attainment in people. Petrosains is located in the PETRONAS Twin Towers at Level 4, Suria KLCC.
