Team TAR UMT posing with their medals and winner’s cheque after winning the RTB Tag Team Malaysia 2023. From left: Gurtej Singh a/l Ranjit Singh, Zhen Wye, Mak Sew Liong, Muhammad Fikri, Max Yeap Yong Jie, Koay Zi Xian, Lim Jian Bang, Yeoh Dao Zheng, and Tan Hai Xiang.
In a scene straight out of an underdog story, a team of TAR UMT students defied the odds to be crowned champions in the Robot Tempur Beregu Tag Team (RTB Tag Team) Malaysia 2023 competition held on 19 – 20 November 2023 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre.
The odds were against the team of nine TAR UMT students who were not the favourites, or even considered as contenders. On top of that, they faced several setbacks and obstacles at every stage of the competition.
Even so, what the team lack in combat robotics experience, they made it up with impeccable teamwork, sheer grit and solid determination – all qualities they developed through a ‘Beyond Education’ learning experience - to bulldoze past other teams for the much-deserved victory.
“It was our first foray into combat robotics, so we did not have much expectations. But after winning the first match, our confidence grew, and after we successfully defeated our opponents in the finals, we were so overwhelmed and happy because the victory means that all our hard work in the past weeks were not in vain,” said Muhammad Fikri Haffizaddin bin Abdul Hamid, a Diploma of Mechatronic Engineering student and one of the robot pilots in the team.
RTB Tag Team Malaysia 2023 is a combat robotics competition held in conjunction with Malaysia Techlympics 2023, an initiative by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to generate more interest in science, technology and innovation among the Malaysian youths. As part of the competition regulations, teams had to build two combat robots, where the objective is to disable their opponents’ robots or push them out of bounds of the robot combat arena.
Muhammad Fikri (left) and Zhen Wye pose behind their respective robots that led TAR UMT to victory at the RTB Tag Team Malaysia 2023.
Bachelor of Mechatronics Engineering (Hons) student Teh Zhen Wye, the second robot pilot, recounted how much the team struggled before eventually succeeding in building the robots before the competition started.
“Due to time constraints, we only had eight days to completely build, test and prepare the robots for the competition, when usually it would take weeks or even months. So, this accomplishment is not only because of the two pilots, but also the other team members who supported us during the building, testing, repairing and cheering us on during the competition,” said Zhen Wye.
All the participating students are members of the TAR UMT Makers Club, a platform that gathers like-minded students who are interested about understanding, building and operating devices such as robots and drones, to share their passion with their TAR UMT peers.
“I was ecstatic when I found out about TAR UMT Makers Club after joining this university as I always have a deep passion for machines such as robots, drones and remote-controlled cars since high school. I am glad to be able to introduce combat robotics to the club members and I am determined to continue fueling my passion for robotics through the club activities and my studies,” said Muhammad Fikri.
“I believe that robotics and automation will be prevalent in the near future, so it a very advantageous for me to be able to study mechatronics and put my knowledge into practice right here at TAR UMT,” he added.
