As many as 160 teams from 33 universities, colleges and technical schools throughout the country are competing in qualifying rounds of the 2014 Robocon Vietnam to earn a berth in the Asia-Pacific Robocon Contest, which is scheduled for August in India.

The qualifying rounds, which officially kicked off in Hanoi, the central city of Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City on April 2, will pick up 32 best teams for the final round which will last from May 5-11 in Nha Trang city, the central province of Khanh Hoa.

The 13rd of its kind, the contest is co-organised by the Toyota Motors Vietnam and Vietnam Television.

At the 2013 Robocon Vietnam, teams from Lac Hong university in the southern province of Dong Nai reaped all three top prizes.

The Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU Robocon) is an Asian Oceanian College robot competition founded in 2002 by Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.

Over the past three consecutive years, Vietnam teams finished second at the ABU Robocon competition.-VNA