• 
• 

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn graciously bestowed the trophy on the iRAPPRO team after it beat out seven local and three foreign teams - two from Iran and one from Japan - in the fourday 2008 Thailand Rescue Robot Championship.

The Thai round that ended yesterday was sponsored by Siam Cement Group and organised jointly by Mahidol University and the Thai Robotics Society.

The team was captained by Khathawut Ucchin with support from Arthit Trakoolthongchai, Natthakorn saeEo and Surachet Inthiam, all KMUTNB engineering students. They also received Bt200,000 in reward money and the chance to participate in RoboCup 2009, set from June 29July 5 in Graz, Austria.

Assoc Prof Jakkrit Sutthakorn, chairman of the Thai Robotics Society, said Thaimade robots had higher standards and Thai teams had performed better and achieved scores close to each other.

Foreign management and teams were impressed with the Thai teams' performances and agreed unofficially that Thailand showed the potential to host an international rescue robot competition in the near future, he added.

The Nation