Abu Dhabi University Students win EGA Grant to Build AI-powered Drones and Robots

• The students’ proposals aim to solve challenging industrial problems under extreme conditions

• The grant winning proposals entail the development of intelligent systems to provide EGA with autonomous measurements of carbon baking furnaces

 

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates—10 January 2021:  Abu Dhabi University (ADU) has announced that Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) has awarded an AED 150,000 grant to three proposals put forth by ADU Electrical, Computer, and Mechanical Engineering students. The grant will support the winning proposals to build artificial intelligence-powered drones and robots, in preparation for EGA’s third edition of the AI Robot competition. 

 

This follows ADU’s announcement of its students winning first and second place in the last EGA 2020 edition of the AI Robot competition, which challenged students from UAE universities and higher education institutes to design and build industrial robots to be used at EGA’s aluminum smelters. 

In the third iteration of the competition, ADU’s students’ proposed intelligent systems are set to solve challenging industrial problems under extreme conditions and provide EGA with autonomous measurements of carbon baking furnaces.

 

Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Hamdi Sheibani, Dean of the College of Engineering at ADU, said: “I am filled with indescribable pride on behalf of our talented students and their accomplishments, maintaining success in the Emirates Global Aluminum AI Robot competition for two editions in a row. We are dedicated to providing a vibrant learning culture for our students and equipping them with advanced skills and expertise to give them a competitive edge complete with leadership opportunities. This success is not only a testament of our students’ ingenuity and creative prowess, but also their ability to mold advanced technologies into solutions that can address real industrial problems.” 

 

From his side, Prof. Mohammed Ghazal, Professor and Chair of the Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering Department at ADU, added, “We are committed to prepare our students to be leading independent thinkers, problem solvers, and innovators in engineering, and providing them with high-quality education, applied research, purpose-built academic facilities and state-of-the-art laboratories. We would like to thank the Emirates Global Aluminum for this opportunity, and I wish our students all the best in the third iteration of the competition.” 

 

Abdalla Al Zarouni, Vice President- Technology Development & Transfer at EGA, said: “The EGA Al Robot competitions provide an ideal platform for the brightest young engineering minds in the country to meaningfully contribute to the UAE’s industries which are a vital part of our economy. Abu Dhabi University has been a key participant in two editions of the competition so far, and we continue to be impressed by the creativity and innovation of students in the UAE. We hope to encourage these students to pursue careers in industry and equip them with real-life experience and skills that will be vital to the growth of the UAE and its knowledge economy.”

 

ADU’s winning team was made up of Maha Yaghi, Tasnim Basmaji, Abdullah Rashed and Marah Al-Halabi, as part of the Electrical Engineering team, as well as the Computer Engineering team; Omar Marwan Elayyan, Hisham A. Ghazal, Mohammed Redha, and Yazeed Eldigair,  both supervised by Prof. Mohammed Ghazal and Prof. Luay Fraiwan, Professor of Biomedical Engineering. In addition to the Mechanical Engineering team; Abdelrahman Mohamed Abduldaim, Ahmed Elkhawad Abdelrahman, Abdelrahman Hosny Gomma, and Aghyad Belal Al Tahhan, supervised by Dr. Mohammad Al-Khedher, Associate Professor and Chair of the Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department at ADU. 

 

ADU students will be building and testing the robots and drones using the university’s resources of applied research, purpose-built academic facilities and state-of-the-art laboratories. The projects will be evaluated internally by ADU’s College of Engineering faculty members before being submitted to the competition during the 2021 spring semester.