SLT-MOBITEL, the National ICT, Telecommunications and Mobile Services Provider was the proud sponsor of SLIoT Challenge 2020 and IESL RoboGames 2020, championing innovation in Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics to reward and further develop a pipeline of tech talent and critical skills among Sri Lanka’s youth. The winners of the competitions were honoured at a special ceremony held recently.

SLIoT Challenge 2020 and IESL RoboGames 2020  was a collaborative effort between SLT-MOBITEL, the Department of Computer Science & Engineering of the University of Moratuwa and the IT and Computer Engineering Sectional Committee of Institution of Engineers of Sri Lanka (IESL). Recognising the value of promoting digital inclusion among youth and to develop new generation technology concepts, SLT-MOBITEL sponsored the event for the fourth consecutive year.  Both competitions encourage technological innovation among youth which in turn provides avenues for SLT-MOBITEL to capitalize on its futuristic thinking towards a connected future.

The SLIoT Challenge 2020 theme centred around the current pandemic ‘Overcoming COVID-19 with IoT’ and over 77 submissions were received. SLT-MOBITEL comprehends that IoT is being widely embraced with the number of connected devices growing rapidly. SLT-MOBITEL recognizes that driving an IoT competition for Sri Lankan youth allows students to unleash their potential in the IoT domain and acts as a gateway to support the country’s evolution towards digital transformation.

Preceding the competition, to provide knowledge, education and create awareness on IoT and related technology, a series of technical and business workshops, including a session on narrowband IoT (NBIoT) were held for the participants.

In first place, winning the SLIoT Challenge 2020 edition from the Undergraduate category, was Team Eureka Innovations. Second and third place rankings were awarded to Teams Kaspers and Wewingo respectively. In the Open category - Team ANANKE won first place, with Teams Enet and Proactive Ants ranked second and third.

Significantly, the IESL RoboGames 2020 was the first virtual robot competition to be held in Sri Lanka. The competitors were tasked with building simulated robots on a 3D maze-like arena developed on the opensource Webots Robot Simulator (https://www.cyberbotics.com) platform. A total of 23 School teams and 48 University teams registered in the IESL RoboGames 2020 competition, of which 4 school teams and 8 university teams went through to the final competition.

In the IESL RoboGames University category, three teams from the University of Moratuwa battled for the championship. The winning team was Team Circuit Breakers while Robo Sapiens was placed 1st Runner-up and Pitch Black ranked 2nd Runner up. In the School Category the Champions were Team Trix from Maliyadeva College, 1st Runner-up was Robo Sapiens from Royal Institute and 2nd Runner-up was TRC Team 1 from Taxila Central College.

In addition to attractive prize money, all winners for both competitions also received certificates and free SLT-Mobitel Home 4G Broadband connections. All competitions were held via virtual platforms and attracted an impressive number of registrations with contestants showcasing their incredible talent, remarkable skill range and passion for science and technology.

Building on the success of previous competitions, SLT-MOBITEL continues to solidify its position as the frontrunner in empowering advanced technology and futuristic innovations for Sri Lanka. The SLIoT Challenge provides an ideal platform for SLT-MOBITEL to invest in technological innovations for applications into the new realm of IoT and base product developments in the real-world for consumers.

Similarly, powering the IESL RoboGames forms part of SLT-MOBITEL’s commitment to activities related to the fostering of robotics among youth and enabling young inventors to apply innovative programming and engineering.

The SLIoT Challenge 2020 and IESL RoboGrames 2020 were powered by SLT-MOBITEL’s next generation Fibre optic broadband recognized as the Fibre of the Nation.