Responding to the rise of Industry 4.0 and smart machinery, Taipei Tech has been working with Global Transmission Technology Co. to organize the “Global Transmission Intelligent Automation Competition.” This year saw the fifth installment of the contest, with more than thirty-seven teams participating and a total value of TWD$3 million in award and supplied components. The final was hosted on December 6, and the Unsullied team composed of four Filipino students from Minghsin University of Science and Technology (MUST) won the grand prize.

Liarng Ruoh-Huei and Jen Fu-hua of MUST Department of Mechanical Engineering lead the Unsullied team. The students designed an automated farming helper bot called the “Gantry Automated Agbot,” which can be programmed to perform all kinds of farming activities including seeding and watering and thereby reducing the need of human labor. Unsullied won the TWD$150,000 grand prize.

The runner-up is the "Pioneer Shark No. 1" made by a team of Taipei Tech mechanical engineering students and led by Tseng Shih-Feng. The team uses Micro LED as the light source to develop a linear laser annealing system and process. This new technique can be used to replace the current radio frequency-based annealing technique to shorten the coating time of metals. They also introduce carbon dioxide in the process to improve the conductivity of the coating.

The third place winner is the C_C Knee team composed of four Taipei Tech mechanical engineering students and led by Wang Jia-Chang. Their "3D-printed Knee Pads” are different from the traditional bulky image of knee pads. Using 3D printing technology, the team can customize knee pad lining to fully fit the user’s knee and thereby improve the protective effect. The team also uses thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) as the material and adapts advanced fabric weaving technique to make the knee brace strong, lightweight, and flexible.

This competition is co-organized by Taipei Tech and Global Transmission Technology and has twelve industry sponsors that provide consultancy and components. According to Yang Chung-Kuang, VP of Taipei Tech, all of the teams that passed the preliminary competition participated in workshops offered by the industry sponsors of the competition. The teams also had access to components and processing facilities and techniques of the sponsors. Yang said having access to the industry is the most valuable aspect of this competition.