Ma Xin, Wang Yinan and Qu Enpei, senior and junior high school students from Shanghai and Beijing, won first place in the high school and junior categories. Liu Chang'an, a high school teacher from Shanghai won in the expert category.

Open to contestants of all professions and ages, the firefighting robot contest is the world's biggest robot contest open to the public. There were participants from seven countries with 142 robots.

The contest was divided into the categories of expert (school teachers and students' advisers), senior (college students and any other adults), and high school and below.

Participants had to build a computerized but not radio-controlled robotic device that could move through a model of a four-room flat, detect a fire (a lit candle) and then put it out. Gold medals went to the robots that consistently accomplished the tasks in the shortest time.

China entered seven robots in this year's competition. Smaller in size and simpler in structure than some of their competitors, the Chinese robots did not attract much attention when they first appeared. However, the participants and audience members alike were soon fascinated by the swift and agile movements and reliable performance of the robots. In one round, a robot built by Liu Chang'an took just 1.3 seconds to extinguish the candle.

Xin Yingjie, leader of the Chinese team, said he was extremely happy with his team members' performance, which showed the great progress China has made in robotics education.

He also noted that robots provide an ideal educational platform to help promote the creativity, original thinking, hands-on skills and team spirit of Chinese youngsters.

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2003)