IO, Surabaya – The Soccer Ichiro Robot of Surabaya’s November Tenth Institute of Technology (Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember – “ITS”) earned an award during the peak of the 2018 National Technology Conscience Day (Hari Kebangkitan Teknologi Nasional – “Hakteknas”) celebrations held by the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Kementerian Riset, Teknologi dan Pendidikan Tinggi – “Kemenristekdikti”) in Pekanbaru, Riau, 9-10 August 2018.
The Ichiro Team was awarded the Excellence of College Students Award in the 23rd Hakteknas, in recognition of its achievement as the first-place winner in the Humanoid League Teensize Soccer Competition, world-class soccer robot competition, 2018 RoboCup, in Montreal, Canada, in July 2018. ITS Ichiro Team’s achievement at the 2018 RoboCup is also representative of Indonesia’s college-level research and innovation excellence.
The 2018 Hakteknas was attended by the Minister of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (“Menristekdikti”), Mohamad Nasir; former president B. J. Habibie; Riau’s Governor, Arsyadjuliandi Rachman; the General Secretary of Higher Education (Pendidikan Tinggi – “Dikti”), Ainun Na’im; the Governor of DI Jogjakarta, Sultan Hamengku Buwono X; as well as representatives of various technology and research government agencies, private industries, and universities throughout Indonesia.
In his oration, Nasir said that Kemenristekdikti is deliberately taking steps to encourage higher education, in order to be able to create good HR that can compete at a global level for the 4.0 industrial era. “For now, most of our research is at basic and applied levels; we have not gone towards much innovation, just a small part,” he admitted.
The head of the ITS Ichiro, Muhammad Reza Ar Razi, represented his team in receiving the award, saying that he was very proud to be able to receive it. Unfortunately, the other team members could not participate in this joyful moment directly, as they are currently competing in the 2018 FIRA RoboWorld Cup competition in Taiwan. “This is our motivation to keep on innovating and to keep improving the intelligence of our robots,” he said.
Reza admitted that the hardest part in achieving anything is to maintain the level of quality. He and his team are not going to get complacent with all of their achievements so far. The ITS Ichiro will continue to perform research and innovation, applying findings directly to their robots.
Other than the Kemenristekdikti award in the 2018 Hakteknas, the Ichiro team also earned the Pemuda Hebat (“Amazing Youth”) award from the Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs (Kementerian Pemuda dan Olahraga – “Kemenpora”) of RI on their return from Canada at the end of July. (ITS)