Reported By: BAO Jinlin
Photographed By: LAN Rui
Translated By: MENG Huan
Edited By: Jennifer Taylor
On May 18th, the final of the 4th Zuguang Cup Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition, also the final of the Challenge Cup Selection Contest in Harbin Institute of Technology, was held in the gymnasium of HIT. In the competition, the series of innovative and technological works were impressive, including the hurtling four-wheel drive, the dancing robot, the intelligent chess mechanical hands, the positioning navigator and the pleuripotent microcapsule.
The competition was co-organized by the Undergraduate College, Graduate School and Youth League Committee of Harbin Institute of Technology. The 112 submitted works involved the 3 categories of technological inventions, academic papers and investigation reports, and all departments and schools took an active part. The works were divided into 5 groups: machinery and control, information and technology, mathematics and life sciences, energy and chemical industry, and philosophy and social sciences. After a four-month evaluation, a total of 68 works reached the final exhibition. In the intense competition, 6 works finally won gold prizes.
At 8 a.m. on the day of the final, all team members came to the competition site and were busy hanging posters, placing projectors, distributing leaflets and decorating exhibition booths. After the elaborate decoration, the competition site was full of creativity. To better show their works, some team members kept practicing with notes. An intelligent four-wheel drive attracted people’s attention: cross-connected circuit, elongated metal antenna wire, manually welded plate, flashing lights and all other complex parts amazed visitors. According to the student who was responsible for the research and development, this intelligent drive calculated with the data collected by its front sensor, judged track types, speeded up driving straight and slowed down around corners, which greatly promoted the speed and efficiency of the four-wheel drive in not deviating from the track. The intelligent chess mechanical hands on another exhibition booth also drew many people’s attention. A chessboard was fixed in a square metal frame, and under the control of a computer, 3 sets of mechanical hands were working closely to place chess pieces on the chessboard. “If the algorithm design is smart enough, this robot can be a quick and strong chess master,” the student in charge smiled and said. “Look, that’s the lunar rover!” another visitor said in surprise. A machine that looked like the Yutu lunar rover (Jade Rabbit) was moving on the rough surface, and the computer was showing real-time landform images collected by it. “This is a lunar rover designed and developed with 3D printing technology. It can cross obstacles, move around structures and broadcast sound, and it can make use of wireless technology to realize real-time video transmission and control as well,” the student in charge of the team said. Besides these technological works, a series of biology and social sciences related works were also highly praised. The pleuripotent microcapsule based on a layer-by-layer self-assembly technique (LBL) was one of them. The team leader said that the microcapsule could effectively curb immune cells’ aggressive behavior to drugs and increase drugs’ half-life period. Meanwhile, the microcapsule used plant oil harmless to the human body as its capsule core, which could release drug’s effectively at a fixed point in the body through using an external magnetic field.
In evaluation section, all the teams showed their skills. Team members introduced their works to judges from different aspects including project background, team operation and market potential. To inspire more originality and ideas and to better help teams implement projects, judges also put forward their views. “How will you control product costs?” “How is development in the same industry?” “How will you intensify publicity and promote brand image?” “What’s the environmental impact of the machine?” Faced with judges’ questions, team members thought actively, answered calmly and won judges’ praise.
After judges’ scoring, voting and centralized evaluation on the spot, the small biped robot for education and entertainment in the entrepreneurship group, the self-balancing tracing vehicle based on advanced RISC machine technique (ARM) in the innovation group and another four works won gold prizes. The School of Software won the Zuguang Cup, and the School of Astronautics and another 7 schools won the Excellence Cup. Assistant President LIANG Yingchun made a speech to all team members at the closing ceremony, hoping that they could study hard on scientific knowledge, work hard and follow the school motto. All team members could carry forward the spirit of HIT and strive to become pioneers of innovation and entrepreneurship.
In this competition, team members got one-month training from invited experts, scholars and entrepreneurs in the fields of scientific research, management control, venture capital, marketing management and financial management. HIT will actively push forward cooperation between the winning teams and investment companies as well as university science parks.
A team member is introducing and showing the teams work to judges and visitors.
The intelligent four-wheel drive was hurtling on the track.
The small biped robots for education and entertainment were dancing.
The lunar rover with 3D printing technology was moving on the rough cystosepiment.
Team members are in the evaluation section
A team member is introducing and showing a team’s work to visitors.
A team member is introducing and showing a team’s work to visitors.
The intelligent chess mechanical hands were working closely to place chess pieces on the chessboard.
