Student receives gold for high speed robot

by Milton Dharmasinghe- Bulathsinhala special corr

Suraj Prasanna Kulatunga, a grade 11 student of Don Pedric Maha Vidyalaya, Horana obtained the first place receiving a gold medal and Rs 50,000 in cash for his creative robot machine at the All Island Inter-School SLIIT Robofest 2011, the robotic competition organised by the Electronic and Computer Engineering Department of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology, (SLIIT) held in September 2011.

The robot he had created could travel on a black road with bends and reach a destination in a very short time automatically. It travels on the correct route with the help of sensors fixed on the circuit.

Suraj is a student who is keen in science and technology, and new inventions. He had been assisted by the school Principal Pathmasiri Perera and Science and Technology teachers G Keerthi, M A Openanayaka and K L Manel.

Suraj has also won the first place at the All Island Inter-school new invention of technology competition held in 2010, for his 3G housing security system. "I used discarded plastic, pieces of toys and a circuit with sensors for this robot," Suraj said adding, "I spent about Rs 3000 for this. In future I expect to invent a new robot machine with the use of new technology".