The “Smart City—AI Robotics National Competition” launched today (28th) at ICC Tainan, featuring a total of 406 teams and 1,044 student participants, setting a record high for all editions.

This year, champion prize money was increased: first place for the senior high school category was raised from NT$7,500 to NT$10,000, the junior high school category from NT$5,000 to NT$7,000, and the elementary school category from NT$2,500 to NT$4,000, hoping to encourage more students to engage in technology learning. The National AI Robotics Competition is organized by the Tainan City Bureau of Education and has been held for over a decade. Initially small in scale, it has grown increasingly larger in recent years, with this year’s participating entries surging by 75 teams and 222 participants compared to last year.

Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che arrived at the venue to cheer on the contestants and announced an increase in champion prize money across all categories. He stated that AI and robotics are major trends in global technological development, and it is hoped that through diverse channels such as courses, competitions, and study camps, students’ technological literacy and innovative capabilities can be cultivated.

The competition planned five thematic tasks according to different learning stages, integrating scenarios such as agricultural harvesting, precision throwing, mathematical operations, logistics warehousing, and smart buildings into robotics tasks. Students were required to complete robot assembly, programming, testing, and debugging on site, demonstrating cross-domain integration and problem-solving abilities. Participating students divided labor to quickly assemble robots and made real-time adjustments based on actual site operations, completing challenges together with teammates to strive for top honors.

This edition of the event was sponsored by AMD for the first time. AMD Director Su Di-shi stated that AI is rapidly changing the world, encouraging students to possess innovative thinking, problem-solving skills, and cross-disciplinary collaboration capabilities, while remaining unafraid of failure, as every step taken now represents a possibility for future success.

News link：https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/breakingnews/5520139