The inaugural Kibo Robot Programming Challenge, jointly hosted by Japan’s JAXA and the US’s NASA, held its preliminary round for Taiwan on June 9 at NARLabs’ National Space Organization (NSPO). A total of 23 teams ran their code in the Challenge’s simulation, with 11 achieving the highest possible grade for their results. Their performances were assessed by both NSPO and JAXA before the results were released on June 15. Taking first place and a prize of 20 000 Taiwan dollars was Taipei Fuhsing Robotics Omega from Taipei Fuhsing Private School, Elite Leopard from National Nanke International Experimental High School and FRCPY from Taipei Municipal Chenggong High School came in second with a prize of 10,000 Taiwan dollars, while Junk Kollection, made up of students from National Formosa University and National Central University and #define team 87, made up of students from National Kaohsiung Normal University and National Chung Cheng University, and came in third and earned 5,000 Taiwan dollars.
Kibo is a JAXA-developed science module attached to the International Space Station (ISS) – a collaboration between a number of countries and regions including the US, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe. The Kibo Challenge was based on the premise that an imaginary meteor had crashed into the ISS, causing an air leakage. Participants were tasked with writing code to manipulate the movement of Astrobee, the module’s free-flying robotic system, simulating its navigation around the spacecraft and carrying out specific actions to accomplish its mission: blocking the leakage.
The greatest challenge this competition presented was the multiple restricted areas included in the simulation, bringing to the fore a variety of unknown disturbances participants would have to consider when writing code for Astrobee. The teams were focused on designing a stable algorithm allowing Astrobee to successfully evade restricted areas and promptly make its way to its destination. The multiple disturbances affecting Astrobee’s flight meant that running one’s code ten times would result in ten different outcomes. It was thus decided that each team’s code would be run ten times, with the score on their worst run being submitted for grading. If Astrobee was unable to complete the mission within ten minutes, the teams would not be awarded a grade.
A total of seven countries in the Asia Pacific region held preliminary competitions, with six of the winning teams to be selected for the final. Taiwan’s prelim was organized by NSPO and was contested by teams consisting of three to five students in a single bracket. Of all the competing countries, Taiwan had the second highest number of participating teams; a total of 58 signed up for the challenge. The high technical benchmark the competition set meant only 23 teams were able to run their code and complete the mission.
In order to abide by pandemic prevention regulations, the preliminary competition was conducted online and live-streamed on Facebook and Youtube. There were, however, four teams that made their way to the NSPO headquarters in person to watch their code in action. NSPO Director General Dr. Chun-Liang Lin made a special effort to attend the competition and show his support for these future space technology innovators, while the competition coordinator Dr. Chun Chieh Hsiao interacted with the teams online. Dr. Hsiao shared much of his professional knowledge, including information about Astrobee, the ISS and Taiwan’s FORMOSAT satellite series.
If Taipei Fuhsing Robotics Omega make it to the final, NSPO will cover their travel expenses to the tune of 120,000 Taiwan dollars, sending them to Tsukuba, Japan in September to compete in the last phase of the Kibo challenge where they will have the chance to control the real Astrobee’s movements in the ISS. Participating students will have the chance to work with professional scientists and engineers, and learn about the world’s most advanced scientific, engineering and mathematical technology while engaging with participants from all over the world.
