Engineering and creativity competition winners announced!

In April 2014 COPA-DATA launched its engineering, usability and creativity competition called zenon Challenge. Teams from all over the world were invited to create tangible and functioning control and visualization applications using the HMI/SCADA software zenon and LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 robots. Out of ten submissions, Team ITS (Image Tweaking System) from the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences in Austria emerged as the winner.

This year, 20 teams equipped with a LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Kit and zenon from COPA-DATA participated in the challenge. In the end, ten teams fulfilled all requirements for entering the competition. 

Markus Wintersteller, juror for the project design category of the zenon Challenge looks back on the competition: "From the beginning, we had a feeling that this year our expectations would be exceeded. However, nobody suspected such an exciting final. In the video voting, two teams went neck and neck right until the last minute."

Public voting as a deciding success factor

The overall ranking was made up of three tasks the teams had to fulfil to gain crucial points. 40 per cent of the total votes were given by the three members of the jury, according to project design, usability and creativity. The teams could gain a further 20 per cent of its points by answering project-specific questions. The remaining 40 per cent of points was achieved via the online fan community in the form of public votes.

The winning projects 

First place: Team ITS – Image Tweaking System, Salzburg University of Applied Sciences

The six-member ITS team won the competition with a well thought out robot mechanism that used LEGO bricks to recreate a logo very accurately. 

Gero Gruber, usability juror of the zenon Challenge explains: "The project gained points in the jury ranking particularly because of its usability factor. This is where the team was able to clearly stand out from the competition."

Second place: Team Vives Automation, VIVES University College

The Vives Automation team from VIVES University College in Belgium ranked second place with their Delta Robot that arranged plastic balls according to colours in corresponding containers. In a nip and tuck race with Team ITS, only a few pivotal points were missing at the end for the win.

Third place: Team AGH, AGH University of Science and Technology

Team AGH from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow achieved the highest amount of points from the jury evaluation in the engineering category, with its 3-in-1 solution.

Markus Wintersteller recaps: "Team AGH packed all three projects into one video and was able to prove extensive zenon know-how. This performance and the outstanding commitment were also rewarded with votes from the fan community.”