From precisely picking up a light weight ping-pong ball with a robotic fingertip, to unscrewing a bottle cap with delicate, algorithm-driven movements, and successfully bearing heavy physical loads—these were the captivating scenes at the recent Robotics Dexterous Hand Innovation Design Competition at the Shien-Ming Wu School of Intelligent Engineering, South China University of Technology.

More than just a contest, the event servedas the culmination of the Design and Manufacturing Practice II course. It wasa real-world test of the students' abilities across the entiretheory-simulation-practice spectrum, showcasing their innovative spirit and hands-on skills in the field of robotics.

The competition, centered ondeveloping highly dexterous robotic end-effectors, featured 15teams. Designed for efficiency, three parallel challenges—Grasping, Operation, and Weight-Bearing—ransimultaneously on separate stations, with teams rotating through each. Thissetup allowed for a dynamic display of engineering prowess, as the robotichands, under their creators' command, competed in a thrilling fingertip.

• Grasping Challenge:As the most demanding test of overall capabilityand carrying the highest points, this event required the mechanical joints toexhibit exceptional flexibility to pick up and place nine items of varying shapes, materials, and weights.

• Operation Challenge:This challenge focused on precision, with taskslike unscrewing a bottle cap and inserting a card. These maneuvers demanded notonly fine dexterity but also highly effective coordination between the hand's sensor systems and control algorithms.

• Weight-Bearing Challenge: This was a pure test of structural integrity and stability. Some teams successfully lifted significant weights,earning bonus points for their robust mechanical design and reliable forcecontrol systems.

After months of work—from initial blueprints and iterative design reviews to themeticulous machining of parts and final debugging—thestudents transformed their ideas into tangible, functioning robots. Many teams built upon open-source projects, integrating unique design features and innovative concepts.

The competition ultimately awarded threetop prizes and six honorable mentions. To further bridge the gap between academic knowledge and industry practice, the event also featured a technical talk by industry expert Du Yipai, co-founder of DaiRobotics, who shared insights on vision-tactile perception and dexterous manipulation from acommercial perspective.

The Shien-Ming Wu School places a strongemphasis on nurturing talents with an innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship mindset. Through a systematic educational approach anddiverse practical platforms, it integrates courses, projects, and competitions.Foundational courses like Introduction to Engineering and Design and Manufacturing Practice II blend curriculum with real-world challenges, giving undergraduates early exposure to authentic research and engineering.

Beyond hosting its own brand competitions,the School actively encourages students to participate in high-level contests,both domestically and internationally. Over the past four years, students have secured 167 awards in various disciplinary competitions and launched 91innovation and entrepreneurship training projects, with ten outstanding teams now incubated at the campus Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center.

Looking ahead, the School plans to deepenits commitment to innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship education, expand its industry-academia-research collaborations, and improveits project incubation and technology transfer mechanisms. The goal is tocultivate top-tier engineering talent equipped with solid skills, sharp innovative thinking, and an entrepreneurial drive to shape the future ofintelligent manufacturing and robotics. (Text/Photos: Shien-MingWu School of Intelligent Engineering)