From left: Professor Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, School of Engineering and Technology (SET) Dean; Assistant Professor Dr. Jackrit Suthakorn, President of Thai Robotics Society; Mr. Jeffrey D. Nygaard, Vice President and Country Manager of Seagate Thailand Operations and Dr. Manukid Parnichkun, Mechatronics Field of Study, SET.
Global computer hard drive leader Seagate Technology (Thailand) Ltd. together with Thai Robotics Society (TRS) and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) last week held a joint press conference at the AIT Conference Center to announce a collaborative partnership to stage the upcoming “Thailand Intelligent Vehicle Challenge 2008”.
This contest will provide an opportunity for teams of Thai university engineering students to take part in building “unmanned intelligent vehicles”, the aim of which is to create vehicles so smart they can make their own driving decisions and navigate a race course without any form of human control. Last year’s AIT entry by a team of SET students nearly won this competition, coming in a very close second place.
At the press event on January 31st, Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, Dean of School of Engineering and Technology (SET), welcomed AIT’s fellow event organizers and the large contingent of media. This was followed by a briefing on the Thailand Intelligent Vehicle Challenge 2008 by Assistant Professor Dr. Jackrit Suthakorn, President of Thai Robotics Society (http://www.trs.or.th).
Mr. Jeffrey D. Nygaard, Vice President and Country Manager of Seagate Thailand Operations (http://www.seagate.com) told the press gathered about his firm’s reasons for joining with AIT and TRS to stage this event, stressing that in addition to honing their technical skills, students in Thailand develop teamwork, critical reasoning and other skills that are essential to any successful career in the digital economy. “Events like this help Thailand to develop the type of human resources required in this industry,” he added. “It’s about challenging students to find hands-on solutions to real word engineering problems.”
On behalf of Seagate Technology (Thailand), Mr. Nygaard also presented a cheque of 2.5 million Baht to Dr. Jackrit Suthakorn for the sponsorship of the Thailand Intelligent Vehicle Challenge 2008, which will take place at the Bangkok Racing Circuit as a preliminary round in April, with the final round in June. All vehicles that take part in the contest will be equipped with Seagate EE25 Series hard disk drives, which are specially designed for the rugged demands of automobiles and other extreme environments. Using this technology, each team has to show the tracking data on their vehicle’s speed, stops, and more, after the contest.
Mr. Nygaard said Seagate was excited to the sole sponsor of this event and committed that his firm would be back next year as an official sponsor. The Vice President and Country Manager stressed that technology is at the core of Seagate’s business. He added that through similar Seagate-sponsored robotics programs worldwide, students are imagining and creating specialized robots to compete in tournaments in which they complete various tasks, and engage in a variety mechanical team challenges. “We are also very pleased to be partnering with AIT in this special event,” he said.
The press conference was concluded by Dr. Manukid Parnichkun, Mechatronics Field of Study, SET, who explained about the competition’s rules. This was followed by a live demonstration for the media of one of AIT’s intelligent unmanned vehicles, which is capable of complete self-navigation. The AIT vehicle displayed this capability aptly by cruising around the campus on its own in front of the media onlookers.
Dr. Manukid explained that AIT researchers have developed the car using a four-part system comprising mechanical, electrical, sensory and control features. The mechanical system regulates the movement of the steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals to allow for automated driving. The sensor system provides the vehicle with a capability to detect objects, making it ‘intelligent’ in the sense that it makes decisions in terms of navigation. Dr. Manukid said potential applications for these intelligent vehicles include automated driving systems, anti-accident systems, intelligent navigation systems, intelligent control systems, and machine vision systems.
AIT places a great value on this form of collaboration with Seagate and the Thai Robotics Society. Seagate is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and marketing of hard disk drives. More information about this unique technology contest can be found at: (http://tivc.ait.ac.th).