Worldskills Competition: International student from THE LÄND among the best
A student from the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences won a bronze medal with two fellow French students for their robot at the world’s biggest professional competition.
At Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences in Baden-Württemberg, students from different countries work together to achieve seemingly unreachable goals. Luc Doppler, student of the Master Program in Mechatronics at Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences (HKA) and participant of the dual-degree program with the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (INSA) in Strasbourg, earned a bronze medal for France together with his French fellow students Augustin Probst and Thierry Humbert at the „Manufacturing Team Challenge“ as part of the Worldskills Competition 2022 in Wales. Gold and silver went to Taiwan and Japan.
The challenge of assembling a robot on site and remote controlling it
The international student team built a prototype for a robot with a telescopic crane that could perform a series of specified activities in a limited time and with high accuracy. These included, for example, driving over a speed bump, climbing a ramp, overcoming a hole or recovering a 5 kilogram steel block from behind a wall. At the competition in Wales, the robot was remote controlled and the pilot had to control it via video transmission – a challenge which was added to the previous competition at national level.
Part of the competition was that the the crane had to be completely assembled on site from individual components. Mechanics, electronics, programming - everything was turned, welded, milled, soldered, programmed, tested and debugged on site in less than three days.
Being succcessful with limited resources
"This medal is an absolutely incredible success for us," says Luc Doppler. "While other teams have prepared for this competition for up to three years and invested several hundred thousand euros, we have managed such a placement with very moderate means and in parallel to our 'normal' life - me in parallel to my master's degree and student position in the project lab.“
"Flexibility, a solution-oriented approach through spontaneous unconventional approaches when not everything always goes according to plan, and fun with the challenge seem to have been the recipe for success," says Prof. Dr. Olivier Schecker, the person responsible for the project lab and a professor at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics at HKA. "I would like to see this story spur other students to try their hand at projects that, at first glance, may seem beyond their horizons.
A well-deserved reward for the team is already waiting in France when it will be honored by the French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysée Palace.
About the Worldskills Competition
The Worldskills Competition is the world’s biggest professional competition. 85 countries in 62 disciplines take part in it. As known from sports, "national teams" qualify on the basis of national competitions, which then compete against each other in the worldwide competition.
Studying at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences
With 7.500 students, the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest institutions of its type in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Besides offering high-level professional academic education closely linked to the needs of industry, its study programs are very international. There are one Bachelor's and three Master's programs that are entirely taught in English. Dual-degree programs with international partners are another special feature of HKA. To learn more, either use our study search or directly visit https://www.h-ka.de/en/study/study-in-english/degree-programs.
Tip for students:
The city of Karlsruhe is home to 43.000 students and 11 universities, among them the University of Excellence „Karlsruhe Institute of Technology“ (KIT). The location on the Rhine and the proximity to the Black Forest and the French Alsace offer plenty of possibilities for leisure activities and make it an attractive place to study and live. To learn more about Karlsruhe as a study location, we recommend to watch the „Study in Germany Vlog“ in which different international students introduce you to the city.
Author: Leonie Rörich