Recently, the 25th China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition (Hunan Division), jointly organized by the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence and the Higher Education Computer Course Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, was held at Hunan University of Commerce. Students from the School of Automotive Engineering at

Xiangtan Institute of Technology won four first prizes, three second prizes, and one third prize in the provincial competition, with a total of seven teams advancing to the national competition.

The China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition is a widely influential national discipline competition and one of the earliest competitions hosted by the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence. It is the first competition in China to organically combine key technology research and development with applications in the fields of robots and artificial intelligence. The competition is included in the "National General Higher Education Institution Discipline Competition Ranking List" published by the China Higher Education Society.

The Hunan regional competition took place in a hybrid format, with both online and offline components, involving nearly 300 teams from 30 universities and more than 700 participants. The competition focused on assessing participants' innovative practical abilities in various areas, including artificial intelligence applications, robot innovation, creativity, athletics, and scenario applications.

The 25th China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition National Finals (Robot Task Challenge) will be held in Mianyang, Sichuan on August 12-13. At that time, seven teams from

Xiangtan Institute of Technology will compete at the national level.

**Pre-Competition:**

Diligent Learning, Ready to Strike

The School of Automotive Engineering attached great importance to the team preparation for the competition. From team registration, internal selection, to event training and practice, the school followed the principle of selecting and guiding the best, aiming to achieve excellent results in the competition.

Based on the organizational experience of the 2022 BOTEC International Intelligent Robot Technology Challenge, the competition this time selected six teachers, including Zou Yuxin, Liu Huan, Liu Xuan, Yang Ting, Xu Junfeng, and Liu Bofeng, as student mentors. Simultaneously, aspects such as team composition, competition training modes, and team selection were further optimized based on previous experiences. The mentors focused on providing comprehensive training, including theoretical and practical aspects, to the participating teams.

Teacher Zou Yuxin introduced that during the preparation, participants sacrificed their rest and comfortable weekends, adhering to the school motto of "Integration of Knowledge and Action, Constant Improvement." They tirelessly worked in the training room every day. The comprehensive training not only tested the participants' professional hands-on skills but also their unity, cooperation, and resilience. It placed high demands on the students' energy, physical strength, and perseverance.

"The entire preparation process requires continuous effort and constant trial and error. We encountered many difficulties during the training, such as errors in the robot's foot sensor values, servo value errors, point dropping in spatial mapping, and zero-point changes. Despite the numerous challenges, we did not retreat or get discouraged. Instead, we encouraged and supported each other, faced the difficulties, and overcame them one by one," said Yang Deting, a member of the Roban humanoid standard platform team. "The overnight and tireless modification of programs before the competition is to ensure stable performance during the competition and achieve good results. This not only enhanced our problem-solving skills but also strengthened the cohesion and collaboration of the team members."

**During the Competition:**

Unity and Efforts, Overcoming Difficulties

As an authoritative professional event, the various competition projects of the Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition have high professional requirements for participants' practical skills and specify a series of task completion goals.

In the Roban humanoid standard platform competition, robots autonomously complete tasks such as "maze navigation," "turning corners," and "energy block handling." Team members need to optimize control programs, familiarize themselves with various functions of the robot's operating system, and program control algorithms for implementation.

In the Aelos humanoid standard platform competition, robots are required to climb stairs, traverse obstacles, and complete tasks in complex terrains. In the robot group confrontation match, team members need to design confrontation strategies, optimize scheduling logic, and control two robots to collaborate in completing tasks such as recognition, gaming, transportation, and confrontation in complex scenarios.

The Roban humanoid standard platform virtual simulation competition requires participating teams to master the Linux system language, be familiar with the simulation environment, and edit algorithm programs to control five robots. The competition involves a 5v5 soccer battle.

Throughout the competition process, participating teams are required to design motion control algorithms and visual recognition algorithms to complete the Robot Task Challenge.

Zhang Xin, a member of the Aelos humanoid standard platform first prize-winning team, expressed that the atmosphere at the competition venue was tense and intense from the official start. "Facing teams that were more outstanding than us, we were not afraid but filled with confidence. During the competition, team members were responsible for manually controlling the robot and the automatic robot module, maximizing the scoring benefits through division of labor and collaboration. In the end, our group ranked first in scores. The experience we summarized is: be bold in trying, focus on the task, maintain stability, and ensure programming accuracy. This provides an experiential foundation for us to showcase our skills at the national competition."

**Post-Competition:**

Riding the Wind and Waves, Moving Toward Dreams

"Through this competition, I have gained a deeper understanding of robot intelligent control, robot vision recognition, and human-computer interaction technology," said Lei Yangyang, a first prize winner in the Roban humanoid standard platform provincial competition. "I am particularly immersed in learning and researching control program writing. Seeing that the code I wrote allows the robot to smoothly navigate obstacles, walk more steadily and quickly, I am filled with a sense of achievement. Next, I will work together with my teammates to fully prepare for the national competition in early August, striving to make new breakthroughs!"

Professor Liu Bofeng, the leader of the automation major in the School of Automotive Engineering, believes that the China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition has a very positive role in guiding and motivating young students to promote the cultivation of applied talents with the spirit of innovation, daring to innovate, and good teamwork. "This competition fully demonstrates the tenacious and never-give-up youth style of

Xiangtan Institute of Technology students and 'shows off' our well-skilled and high-quality students!"

Associate Professor Liu Xuan, Assistant to the Dean of the School of Automotive Engineering, introduced that the China Robot and Artificial Intelligence Competition is one of the projects for implementing the CFAP talent training mode reform pilot and "project-based" teaching reform in the college. It has a significant driving role in cultivating students' innovative spirit and teamwork literacy, allowing students to receive education and skill enhancement in practical projects. "Using competition to promote teaching and learning has always been our effort direction. We believe that, with the continuous improvement of education and teaching innovation and various competition platforms, our students will be able to further elevate their practical skills, innovative awareness, and problem-solving abilities to a higher level!"

**Title: Pursuing Excellence with the Goal of National Competition**

**Goals:**

Striving for greater achievements, with aspirations set on the national competition.

"After a month and a half of competition preparation, I have gained a deep understanding of Roban robot intelligent control, human-machine interaction, Python programming, and the Ubuntu operating system. The competition not only facilitates rapid personal growth through self-learning during the preparation process but also brings a sense of achievement during the smooth operation of the robot. I look forward to our team achieving excellent results in the national competition!" said Chen Wenhui, a student from Class 2101 in the Automation Department, who won the first prize in the Roban Robot Challenge in the Hunan Province division.

Tang Xinyu, also from Class 2101 in the Automation Department, expressed his feelings about the competition, stating, "I joined the preparatory team with a heart eager for knowledge and exploration. Initially, we were quite puzzled and unfamiliar with this competition. After joining the team, we clarified our responsibilities, with team members focusing on programming design, strategic guidance, and literature search. Since we were all new to C++ and the Linux system, we faced challenges in programming, with limited resources available. However, we believed that these challenges were not insurmountable. Through discussions with team members and teachers, we integrated technical aspects from various fields, including engineering (mechanical, electronic, electrical, computer, and bionics) and sciences (mathematics and physics). We successfully built a soccer robot that could perform tasks according to our requirements: receiving environmental input, making decisions, and executing corresponding actions, such as reading the kicking angle. Throughout the entire preparation process, our deepest realization was the importance of perseverance and effort. Many times, our progress was a spiral ascent, and you couldn't predict when the turning point would be. Therefore, the only thing we could do was to identify and patch the loopholes, constantly improve and strengthen ourselves. Now, our goal is to achieve good results in the national competition, and for this, we have started a new round of preparations!"

"All success comes from tireless effort and running; all happiness comes from ordinary struggle and persistence. Winning a prize in the robot competition is not only the result of my own efforts but also depends on the sincere cooperation of my teammates and the strong support of teachers. On the eve of the competition, all participating students were working hard in the training room, optimizing codes, and the teachers did their best to help us. Life goes on, and the struggle continues. I believe this competition is just a starting point for us. Through continuous efforts, we will further enhance our reserve of professional knowledge and competition skills, striving for a step closer in the next robot competition," said Li Ying Peiqin from Class 2101 in the Automation Department.

"For me, this competition is a valuable experience. In the preparation stage, we spent a lot of time and effort learning and building the robot. Through continuous improvement and adjustment of the robot's program and code, we eventually found the optimal solution. At the same time, we maintained a positive attitude, working hard to overcome difficulties and improve our skills and strength," said Liu Shaoyi, a student from Class 2101 in the Automation Department, who won the first prize in the Robot Task Challenge (Aelos humanoid standard platform). "During the competition, we fully demonstrated our skills and performance, ultimately standing out among the participating students. Our robot demonstrated excellent cooperation and intelligence with high speed and stability. In this competition, I not only learned how to make and debug a robot but also gained a deeper understanding of the meaning and development trends of robots. Through the process of making robots, I also deeply experienced the importance of patience and perseverance."