Who Wins The Final Spot? Cleaning Robots And Delivery Drones Battle | CNA Tech Challenge - Part 3/4

Key Concepts

• Robo Clean: A robotics challenge focused on autonomous cleaning of both table surfaces and floors using custom-built robots.
• Delivery Dash: A drone-based logistics challenge requiring precision flight, payload management, and navigation in a warehouse environment.
• Smorphy Robot: An educational robotics platform used for modular design and testing.
• Payload Optimization: The engineering process of balancing weight, stability, and attachment design to ensure successful delivery of items.
• Sabotage Card: A strategic mechanic allowing the winning team of a previous round to hinder opponents (e.g., reducing team size or build time).
• FPV (First-Person View): A method of controlling drones where the pilot views the flight through a camera mounted on the drone.

1. Challenge 1: Robo Clean

Objective: Design, build, and test two robots to clean a hawker center table and the floor beneath it within 2 hours.

• Scoring: 60% gameplay (collecting items like ikan bilis, tissue, bones, and cans into bins; cleaning liquid spills) and 40% judges' evaluation.
• Methodology: Teams utilized modular attachments (sponges for absorption, custom scoops for waste separation).
• Key Insight: Judges emphasized that effective design requires balancing weight distribution and speed. Over-speeding often led to instability, while poor attachment height resulted in missed waste collection.
• Real-World Context: Tong Ming Fai (National Robotics Program) noted that by 2030, one in four Singaporeans will be over 65, making robotics essential for handling physically demanding and repetitive tasks in public spaces.

2. Challenge 2: Delivery Dash

Objective: Build two drones to transport cubes and drop them into designated medium (9 points) and large (4 points) boxes in a warehouse.

• Process: Teams had 3 hours to assemble drones and optimize "grabber arms."
• Strategic Sabotage: Team 67, having won the first challenge, used a sabotage card to remove one member from Team CogniFlight for the first 25% of the build time.
• Technical Challenges:
  • Altitude Control: Maintaining a stable hover while dropping payloads proved difficult due to "bobbing" and latency in controls.
  • Communication: Success relied heavily on the "spotter" (a team member guiding the pilot) and clear verbal coordination.
  • Environmental Factors: Lighting and warehouse layout created navigation difficulties, particularly for FPV pilots.

3. Key Arguments and Perspectives

• Team Dynamics: Judges noted that successful teams (like Team 67) demonstrated superior communication and task delegation. Conversely, Team No Fly Zone succeeded through "silent leadership" and strong non-verbal coordination.
• Design Philosophy: Judges looked for "out-of-the-box" solutions. They criticized teams that simply used standard components without modification, favoring those who adapted parts to solve specific constraints (e.g., weight addition for stability).
• Resilience: Team 67’s victory was attributed to their ability to maintain high spirits and adapt under pressure, even when drones crashed or technical issues arose.

4. Notable Quotes

• "By the year 2030, one in four of our population will be above the age of 65. So we need robots to help us with the physically demanding, repetitive, and dangerous jobs." — Tong Ming Fai, Executive Director, National Robotics Program.
• "The design challenge the teams are facing over here is very similar to the way that we do design in the real world... they're under pressure to find a solution that works." — Judge's commentary on the engineering process.

5. Data and Results

• Robo Clean Results: Team 67 (54 points), CogniFlight Crew (47 points), No Fly Zone (35 points).
• Delivery Dash Results: No Fly Zone (85 points), Team 67 (73 points), CogniFlight Crew (47 points).
• Final Standings:
  1. Team 67: 158 total points (Winner, advances to Grand Finale).
  2. Team No Fly Zone: 148 total points.
  3. Team CogniFlight Crew: 128 total points.

Synthesis

The competition highlighted the intersection of rapid prototyping and real-world problem-solving. The transition from the hawker center (Robo Clean) to the warehouse (Delivery Dash) tested the teams' ability to pivot between ground-based automation and aerial logistics. Team 67 secured their spot in the Grand Finale by consistently balancing technical performance with strategic gameplay, proving that effective communication and the ability to recover from mechanical failures are as critical as the engineering itself.