The robotics team consisting of four students from Tsinghua University and one from the University of Lincoln has won the first prize in the first International Competition for Autonomous Running Intelligent Robots held over the weekend in Beijing.

The team has also been awarded $10,000 for their performance at the competition.

A total of 33 teams from universities in China, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Cote d'Ivoire and Pakistan competed at the first autonomous robot competition at the Beijing Science Center, and representatives from universities in 20 different countries and regions took part.

The event was hosted by the Beijing Association for Science and Technology and organized by the Beijing Institute of Electronics and the Institute of Microelectronics of Tsinghua University.

Wu Huaqiang, professor at the Beijing Innovation Center for Future Chips of Tsinghua University, said autonomous intelligent robots are an advanced segment of the robotics field, and they are able to independently make decisions based on their circumstances. Instead of relying on framework-based controls and prior knowledge, the robots are able to independently take decisions and perform autonomous functions.

This requires both extremely powerful, advanced algorithms and advanced capabilities in terms of perception, interaction, and posture control and movement – all of which set high standards for participants with regard to programming and control of the robots, he said.

The competition has been judged based on which team has programmed the most intelligent robot in three segments. The standard and freestyle segments have been judged by the time a robot spent crossing a specified number of barriers on a track and the performance segment has been judged on how well AI is integrated with robotics, Wu said.

During the competition, the robots have relied solely on their "brains" and there was no operator assistance to analyze and make decisions on how best to cross barriers and handle variable track conditions, he added.

Wang Zhihua, professor at the Institute of Microelectronics of Tsinghua University, said: "Through this competition, we hope to promote the integrated development of chip and robotics-related technologies while encouraging young people to study artificial intelligence, robotics controls and chip design".