The BKZ team from the Da Nang Polytechnic University won first prize in a contest held January 29-30 for its design of a bomb- and landmine-disarming robot.

The Heat 3 team of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and team Embot-Strike of Can Tho University took second and third places respectively.
The contest was held by the HCMC Mechanical Electricity Association and Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal of the High Command of Engineer Corps.
This year’s contest, themed “All-terrain robot,” attracted 36 teams from across the country. There were 33 university teams, two company groups, and one individual entrant.
Teams were tasked with designing a robot that possessed automaticity, could analyze terrain, move precisely and flexibly, and overcome all obstacles in moving toward bomb and mine locations.
The contest offered young people, especially students and engineers, a chance to show off their creative talents while contributing to the development of bomb-disarming technology.
The contest’s organization board will fund the winning teams to perfect their products in the future, said Deputy Professor Dang Van Nghin, head of the organization board and chairman of the HCMC Mechanical Electricity Association.
Bombs and landmines cover an area of around 6.6 million hectares in Vietnam, accounting for 20 percent of the total area of the country. Ordnance-disarming efforts are carried out on just 20,000 hectares per year.
At this rate, it will take 300 years to clear all of Vietnam’s bombs and landmines, said Mr. Nghin.