Students invent robot that helps around house
It's every household's dream - a robot helper that can take care of all those time-consuming chores.
And thanks to children at a Hong Kong school, it may be becoming a reality.
What is thought to be the city's first domestic helper robot was unveiled yesterday by Form One and Two students from Lingnan Dr Chung Wing Kwong Memorial Secondary School.
Reminiscent of Rosie, the robot maid in the popular cartoon The Jetsons, it uses pads attached to its feet to clean tables.
And it was one of five robots displayed by the children at Sunshine City Plaza in Ma On Shan as part of the mall's exhibition in honour of Robocon, a Japanese cartoon robot.
Their creations were produced under the guidance of the schools panel chairman of design and technology Lau Sai-Chong.
Last November, the students achieved two Guinness World Records. One was for building the world's smallest running robot and the other was for having the most robots dancing together in one place.
They assembled 800 small, four-legged robots on the school's basketball courts where it was hoped they would dance for one minute.
Only 700 made it to the end of the minute. But it meant their school is the only one in the city to have set a Guinness World Record.
Lau said his promotion of robotics at the school stemmed from his desire to help the community.
He said: 'Technology is important and knowledge of it will improve the lives of children in the long run.
'Building robots is fun. It builds skills and trains the creative mind. When you see that you have built something, it builds confidence.'
Form One student Chong Yun-Wah, who helped to build the domestic helper robot, agreed with Lau, saying: 'If we learn to build robots now we can be engineers in the future and help communities with technology.'
