The RAND-E team consisting of final year students in the Mechatronics and Automation Program at the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University and affiliated with the University’s Robotics and Automation Laboratory, won third place in the Robothon Grand Challenge 2021 competition organized annually by the Technical University of Munich from May 14, 2021 to 22 \6\2021.

Under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of the University, Prof. Dr. Abdel Fattah Saud, Vice President for Education and Student Affairs.

Dr. Omar Al-Husseini, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, said that the team was able to complete all the tasks set, and was also able to do so in half the time available to the remaining 15 advanced teams, and accordingly, they were awarded a special “Lightspeed” award.

The winning team consists of Dr. Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Hassan Awad, Dr. Shady Ahmed Maged Ahmed Mohamed Othman.

It is worth mentioning that the Robothon Grand Challenge 2021 was held by the Technical University of Munich (TUM). It aims to highlight important environmental issues such as dismantling and sorting e-waste, and teams from all over the world have applied to participate in the competition.

Dr. Mostafa Refaat, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering for Education and Student Affairs, said that the qualified teams were given four weeks to develop a self-solution to implement on the competition task board. Each team received the task board by mail and used their robot platform to develop solutions for tasks of varying difficulty. The teams' task was to program their robot to press a button on the board, each pressing of a button earning a point.

Then an object was inserted into a hole: The teams programmed their robot to insert an Ethernet wire into the hole designated for it.

Followed by inserting a key into the keyhole: the teams programmed their robot to pick up a key and insert it into the keyhole.

Then remove the battery: The teams programmed their robot to remove the batteries from the battery case

Battery recycling: The teams programmed their robot to press a button down the hole using a level 4 battery.

Teams were evaluated based on the number of tasks they completed and the time taken to complete them: The Egyptian team was able to complete all tasks and receive a full score

The first place was shared equally by RoboPig and RoboTHIx. The second place award was awarded to the Ewas. Team, and the Egyptian RAND-E team took the third place.

Although Schmalkalden's team managed to complete the missions, it failed the relocation test, turning the 20 points it earned to zero.