The qualification trials for the Vietnam 2011 Robot Creation Contest for southern provinces kicked off on April 5 at Rach Mieu Gymnasium, with the participation of 73 teams from 18 universities, colleges and vocational schools.

There will be 160 matches of three minutes each until April 8 to determine 12 teams to join the 14 teams from the north and six teams from the central region in the final contest organised in Da Nang City in June.

The overall winner at Da Nang will represent Vietnam to contest at the 10th ABU Asia-Pacific Robot Contest, known as ABU Robocon, which is to take place in Thailand.

The contest theme is Loy Krathong, Lighting Happiness with Friendship.

The game goal is achieving Loy Krathon, which involves a team's automatic robot successfully dropping a lit candle on the Krathong float on the river surface.

If neither team achieves Loy Krathong at the end of the three-minute match, the winner will be the team with the highest score.

The RBU Robocon was launched for the first time in 2002 in Japan. In addition to promoting relationships and cultural exchanges to foster closer ties among countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the objective of the contest is to develop knowledge, creativity and innovation among younger people in the region.

Through the contest's 10-year history, Vietnam has been one of the most successful countries by winning the contest in 2002, 2004 and 2006, and achieving a deep run into the contest many times./.