EGA launches this year’s edition of industrial robotics competition for university students

Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced the launch of this year’s edition of Al Robot, a competition which challenges students from UAE universities and higher education institutions to design and build industrial robots for use at EGA’s aluminium smelters.

Since its inception in 2017, the Al Robot competition has provided students with the opportunity to develop their Industry 4.0 skills by practicing the application of their academic learning in the real world. The competition encourages the use of innovative and creative engineering skills which are fundamental to the UAE’s industrial future. 

For this year, students are required to design and build a robot that can measure the thickness of materials within EGA’s reduction cells, a task that is currently performed manually.

EGA’s Chief Executive Officer, Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, said: “The EGA Al Robot competition is now in its fifth year, and we are proud to look back at the innovative solutions university students have submitted throughout previous editions which are now in operation in our smelters. Developing the skills of our youth, and encouraging them to apply these skills in industry, is vital to the achievement of the UAE’s Operation 300bn industrial growth strategy. I look forward to seeing this year’s entries from the best students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in our country.”

Each selected team will receive AED 50,000 to design and build a prototype of their robots for testing at EGA. Winners will be announced in 2023, with finalist teams winning cash prizes worth AED 100,000 in total.

Last year’s edition of Al Robot required students to develop a robot capable of cleaning silt and mud from the aeration basin at EGA’s Al Taweelah site. The competition was won by a team from UAE University. Aeration increases the amount of oxygen in the water, safeguarding the marine environment.

EGA’s technology development team works extensively with universities in both the UAE and internationally to combine EGA’s industrial expertise with the latest academic thinking. EGA’s academic partnerships include Khalifa University, UAE University, Abu Dhabi University, Heriot Watt University, the American University of Sharjah, Rochester Institute of Technology and Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE, the University of Auckland, University of New South Wales, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.