On the afternoon of April 9, the tech seminar for the 3rd South China University of Technology Hebaotai Cup Robot Challenge was held at the Guangzhou International Campus. Organized by the Shien-Ming Wu School of Intelligent Engineering, the event invited technical experts from Shenzhen Hebaotai Intelligent Control Co., Ltd. to share insights, answer questions, and help participants gear up for the competition.

Now in its third edition, the Hebaotai Cup has already drawn over 700 students from 16 schools across three campuses. It has been featured by Xinhua News, Yangcheng Evening News (front page), Guangzhou Daily, China Science Daily, and more than ten other media outlets, making it a signature tech competition with strong academic branding.

This year’s challenge focuses on robotic arm and end-effector applications, as well as intelligent control. Teams are judged on their integrated abilities in design, hardware setup, software development, and on-site operation. The seminar featured three in-depth technical talks given by Li Shao (Product Director), Huang Fei’an (AI Product Lead), Li Guiqi (Senior Algorithm Engineer), and Zhang Chen (AI Team Lead).

01. From Lab to Production: Functional Programming for Scientific Computing Engineering

Dr. Zhang Chen showed how functional programming can reshape Python-based scientific computing. By improving framework design and code optimization, he helped students turn lab prototypes into production-grade, robust code.

02. Robotic Recognition, Gripping, and Motion Control

Dr. Li Guiqi broke down the entire pipeline from visual perception to motion control. He covered traditional approaches (ROS+PCL+MoveIt) and AI-native methods (LeRobot end-to-end imitation learning), and offered practical advice on gripper selection and system integration—key points for the competition.

03. Point Cloud and SLAM on MCUs

Dr. Zhang Chen challenged the notion that SLAM relies on high-performance platforms. He explained how to implement SLAM on MCUs with numerical stability, lightweight algorithms, and heterogenous collaboration, offering fresh ideas for robot perception development.

After the talks, students actively asked questions about competition challenges, technical implementation, and optimization. The experts gave detailed answers in a lively discussion.

This seminar provided authoritative guidance and sparked greater enthusiasm for tech innovation. Going forward, the school will continue to use competitions as a bridge to strengthen industry-academia collaboration, build hands-on innovation platforms, and help cultivate high-caliber intelligent engineering talent.(Text|photos: Shien-Ming Wu School of Intelligent Engineering)