A student team from the College of Engineering at the United Arab Emirates University won the 4th annual industrial robots competition organized by Emirates Global Aluminum EGA, as part of a challenge between students of universities and higher education institutions in the country to design and build industrial robots for use in the EGA aluminum smelters.

This year, the team faced the challenge to develop a robot capable of cleaning silt and mud in aeration areas at the EGA's Al Taweelah site. It aerates the used seawater before returning it to the sea, which increases the percentage of oxygen to protect the marine environment. Dr. Salem Shames Mohamed Al Zahmi - Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at the College of Engineering said: Enriching the culture of innovation and enhancing the university s role in community participation by developing local partnerships to support the transfer of knowledge and skills to serve the community is one of the UAEU strategic goals. From this standpoint, the College of Engineering has keenly supported the team with all technical capabilities and administrative facilities, which reflected positively on the team's spirits and achievements.

We invite and urge our students to participate in local and international competitions to acquire technical skills. The supervisor of the winning team, Dr. Waleed Ahmed, said: This year's challenge is one of the most difficult industrial challenges presented by EGA, which requires innovative revolutionary solutions. A prototype robot was designed, implemented, and tested successfully and will be developed in cooperation with the EGA technology development team, for long-term use in the company's operations.

The team remarkably offered innovative, practical, and sustainable solutions that solve first-time industrial problems. The team was praised by the company's official management. The team included the students: Nasmah Baalfaqih, Aamna Ali Alshehhi, Rashfa Baalfaqih, Huda Al Khawaja, Lobna Shaikhoun and Engineer Muthanna Aziz, who presented the prototype of a solar-powered robot for long-term use in EGA's operations. This competition, organized by EGA, aims to enable young people to apply their academic learning in the real world, and develop the skills of the Fourth Industrial Revolution required for the UAE's industrial future, and achieve the goals of the "300 billion project".