MELAKA: Four Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) students bagged the gold medal at the 2021 World Invention Creativity Olympics (WICO) in Seoul, South Korea recently through their drone innovation.
UTeM’s Mechanical Engineering Faculty (FKM) senior lecturer and project supervisor Dr Juffrizal Karjanto said in a statement today, the drone has a speed of up to 50 kilometres per hour, with up to two hours of flight time and can fly more than 80 feet.
He said it was developed by a group of students from FKM, Faculty of Electronic Engineering and Computer Engineering and Faculty of Information and Communication Technology and two UTeM lecturers.
The students are Iqbal Hakimi Mohammad Feirdaus, 20, Nurul Khalida Kasim, 23, Muhammad Haziq Mohd Hamizat, 22, dan Aqil Haikal Jalalus Sayuti, 21, and their supervisors, FKM’s senior lecturers Dr Fudhail Abdul Munir and Dr Nidzamuddin Md Yusof.
He said the drone was developed in stages beginning early last year, adding that development on the innovation is still being carried out.
The product, which had been tested by the Malaysian Unmanned Drone Activists Society, was developed to be cost-effective and can be commercialised locally and internationally for surveillance, search and delivery purposes in open as well as narrow spaces, he said.
Dr Juffrizal said he hoped that this local innovation could help local and global communities to compete in their respective markets.
He also hoped that the achievement would encourage local participants especially the youths to work together to nurture their talents in innovation, science and technology so that the country would be at par with other developed countries.
Meanwhile, UTeM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Raha Abdul Rahim said the achievement was in line with UTeM’s goal to ensure that its students continue to excel not only at the national level but also across the globe.
“This success will be a boost of excellence for them to practice their knowledge in the real world,” she said.
WICO 2021, hosted online by Korea University Invention Association, brought together more than 1,000 students and inventors from over 25 countries including the United States, Canada, China, Romania, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Thailand and India. – Bernama
