DA NANG (VNS) — Viet Nam will do its utmost to ensure that the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest (ABU Robocon) is a huge success, the deputy general director of Viet Nam Television, Pham Viet Tien told a press conference in Da Nang yesterday.

This year's event (the 11th of its kind) marks the second time that Viet Nam has hosted the technology innovation competition, which features students predominantly from the Asian-Pacific region. Action will kick off tomorrow at the Tuyen Son sports centre, with organisers hoping for an electric spectacle.

Two host teams – LH-SEE and LH-NVN-Eagle, both from Dong Nai Province's Lac Hong University – will compete with 17 foreign teams. The theme of this year's contest is The Green Planet.

"This year we are happy that the contest will for the first time include the participation of teams from Russia and Egypt. This shows that the competition has developed beyond the Asia-Pacific region, creating a lager technology innovation playground for students in the world," Tien remarked.

Viet Nam have won the championship title three times since 2007.

This year, they will face tough opponents from mainland China, Hong Kong, Mongolia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Fiji, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Egypt and Russia. The teams will compete in a group stage in the morning before the winners enter the final round in the afternoon. — VNS