News

(TAIPEI TIMES)  A Taiwanese robotics team won four consecutive qualification matches and set the highest score of the day at the FIRST Tech Challenge Istanbul Premier Event in Turkey — all after having their competition equipment confiscated by customs.

FTC Team 32760, VIS MARS, made up of students from VIS International Experimental Education, were the only team representing Taiwan at the competition, the school said in a statement, describing the event as one of the world’s premier high-school robotics contests.

On Wednesday last week, the team’s competition robot, tools, spare parts and technical equipment were all seized by Turkish customs agents, as Taiwan is not a participant in the ATA Carnet international customs system, VIS said.

Members of VIS International Experimental Education’s FTC Team 32760, VIS MARS, pose for a photograph at the FIRST Tech Challenge Istanbul Premier Event in Istanbul, Turkey. Photo courtesy of VIS International Experimental Education

For the next 72 hours, students, coaches and accompanying parents worked tirelessly across the Netherlands, Turkey and Greece, seeking every possible avenue to recover the equipment, the school said.

However, customs authorities informed the team that the equipment could only be returned after they left the country, it said.

With support from fellow FTC teams from around the world, the students collected discarded components, borrowed basic tools and, without original design drawings, painstakingly assembled an entirely new robot using zip ties and electrical tape, the school said.

The improvised machine, visibly patched together and covered in tape, passed the official robot inspection and was cleared to compete, VIS said.

While the replacement robot retained only a fraction of the original robot's scoring capability, including its primary shooting mechanism, team captain Ray Shang (商泱瑞), together with teammates Mason Wang (王詠靖) and Ken Shen (沈戡), transformed it into a highly specialized defensive machine, the school said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Mission in Ankara, including Representative to Turkey Huang Chih-yang (黃志揚) and his colleagues, provided urgent assistance to the team, VIS said.

On Saturday, the team won four consecutive qualification matches, and in their best performance defeated their opponents 154-117, setting the highest score at the event that day.

“Our greatest weapon was never the robot locked inside a customs warehouse. It was our ability to think again, adapt and find solutions no matter how difficult the situation became,” Shang said.

The FIRST Tech Challenge Istanbul Premier Event ran from Friday through Sunday last week.