168 teams participate in National Engineering Robotics Contest

Islamabad: NUST and STEM Career Program-HEC organised the 15th Annual National Engineering Robotics Contest (NERC)’ 2017 (www.nerc.com.pk) at NUST, College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering (E&ME), Rawalpindi.

The five-day event had six categories. NUST Corporate Advisory Council (CAC) joined hands with College of E&ME for arranging the sponsorship of prize money of the event. NERC is the pioneering and biggest robotics contest in the country which attracts participants from all over the country. 168 teams participated in the event this year from 30 institutions of the country. For the very first time a team from Hasegawa Memorial Public School, Hunza valley participated in the event. Their participation was appreciated by the chief guest.

Lt Gen (r) Naweed Zaman HI(M), rector of NUST was the chief guest of this year’s event. In his address the chief guest, Lt Gen (r) Naweed Zaman HI(M), while complimenting the efforts taken up so vigorously by NUST College of E&ME, termed ‘National Engineering Robotics Contest’ an ‘ICON Event of NUST’ that provides a platform to engineering students of Pakistan with an opportunity to get the complete engineering experience.

He said “Seeing such a huge turnout and the students working with such dedication on one of the most sophisticated field of engineering, I can see the potential of our future engineers.” The chief guest announced that from next year a new category of implementing a ‘Nouvelle Idea’ in robotics will be introduced and separate prize money will be awarded to the winning team. He also directed the organisers to ensure participation of teams from Baluchistan and FATA to extend the boundaries of technologies to all parts of the country. In the end chief guest announced to double the prize money of the indigenous category of the contest. This makes NERC the highest prize money awarding robotics contest of the country.

Brig Tariq Javed SI(M), ‘Sitara-e-Eisaar’ Commandant College of E&ME in his address welcomed everyone to the National Engineering Robotics Contest 2017, he appreciated how the number of participants had grown over the years and the standard of the competition has risen. He said “We believe that healthy competitions like NERC are beacons of a progressive attitude. In a knowledge-based economy, towards which the world is heading, creativity and innovation have become essential weapons in the intellectual armoury of students.

At the end of the ceremony the chief guest gave away the prizes to the winning teams of “National Engineering Robotic Contest 2017” (NERC) in the following categories.

a) Winner NERC 2017 Shield with cash prize of Rs200,000 was awarded to team Langra Ghora from NUST College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering. The Chief Guest announced to double the prize to 200,000. This is the biggest prize money offered to any robotic contest in the country.

b) 1st Runner up NERC 2017 Shield with cash prize of Rs140,000 was awarded to team Minions from NUST College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering. The Chief Guest announced to double the prize to 140,000.

c) 2nd Runner up NERC 2017 Shield with cash prize of Rs100,000 was awarded to team Tohfa from NUST College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering. The Chief Guest announced to double the prize to 100,000.

d) Best Engineering Design Award with cash prize of Rs20,000 each was awarded to team Micro Jojo from NUST CEME, Chota Mukhtasir aur Behtareen from NUST CEME and Suicide Squad from UET Taxila Chakwal Campus.

e) Winner NERC 2017 Modular Category (Universities) with cash prize of Rs20,000 was awarded to from team  Alpha NUST College of  Electrical & Mechanical Engineering .

f) 1st Runner up NERC 2017 Modular Category (universities) with cash prize of Rs15,000 was awarded team Sultan from Lahore Garrison University.

g) Winner NERC 2017 Modular Category (schools) with cash prize of Rs20,000 was awarded to team Chappie from Head Start Schools.

h) 1st Runner up NERC 2017 Modular Category (schools) with cash prize of Rs 15,000 was awarded to team Robonaughts from Head Start Schools.

i) Winner NERC 2017 Ready to Move Category with cash prize of Rs20,000 was awarded to team Qalanders from Lahore Garrison University.

j) 1st Runner up NERC 2017 Ready to Move Category with cash prize of Rs15,000 was awarded to team Science Club One from Islamabad Model College for Boys.

k) Winner NERC 2017 Robo Wars with cash prize of Rs8,000 was awarded to team Whiplash from DHA Suffa University.

l) 1st Runner up NERC 2017 Robo Wars with cash prize of Rs5,000 was awarded to team Lucifer from FAST, Islamabad.

m) Winner NERC 2017 Game of Drones with cash prize of Rs8,000 was awarded to team NUST Airworks from PNEC, Karachi.

n) 1st Runner up NERC 2017 Game of Drones with cash prize of Rs5,000 was awarded to team LUMS UAV-2 from LUMS University.

o) Participation awards were awarded to team Synergy from Generation School Karachi, Team Smarty from NED University Karachi, Team Maze Runner from UET Lahore Faisalabad Campus, and team Yohsin from Habib University, Karachi.

p) EME Award was given to the University for maximum participation, to UET Taxila Chakwal Campus

q) A special cash prize of Rs12,000 was given by NUST Alumni association to the best team from Army Public Schools. This award was given to team Ultra Mangus from Army Public School, CEME Campus.