Thai Teen Innovators Unveil Smart Robotics for Future
Thai high school students showcased innovative robotics at a national festival, with winning teams developing projects from rescue robots and agricultural helpers to smart farming systems powered by AI and sensors.
From everyday ideas to competition-ready innovations, the "Robot Playground Festival" gives Thai youth nationwide a platform to showcase creative thinking and explore technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence. Organized by the Thai Association of Robot Technology and Artificial Intelligence Teachers and the Thai Robot Teachers Club, with support from Panasonic Energy (Thailand), the festival celebrates student innovation.
Team SPIM-D from Phivatporn Institute Demonstration School won the Bigfoot Gundam Open category with a remotely operated robotic arm developed by 17-year-olds Chaiyapat Suwannarasmee and Nattadoan Sriratvatanakul. The team plans to evolve the project into a rescue robot capable of performing tasks in hazardous environments—including collapsed buildings and chemical leak sites—by adding thermal sensors, cameras, and 5G control systems.
Team KN3 from Kanjananutcharoen School won the Lite Beam Open competition with an autonomous line-following robot built by 18-year-old Pannakan Luengamornsakdi and 12-year-old Piraya Srisuksaibangtoey. The team hand-soldered circuits, adjusted resistances, and installed light-detection sensors—the robot's "brain" and "eyes"—and plans to develop an intelligent agricultural robot to monitor soil conditions, spray fertilizer, and transport harvests.
A mixed student team from Phivatporn Institute Demonstration School and Bangkok Christian College developed "Monk Assist," a robotic helper for monks that uses AI to identify food's nutritional value when inserted into the system, displaying health information for relatives and helping monks carry objects. The team aims to expand the concept into everyday and industrial carrying applications.
Team KIDS STEM-2 from Rungarun School, with members aged 8 and 9, created a "Smart Farm" equipped with moisture-detection sensors for automatic watering and AI-powered motion detection to identify and deter unwanted animals like birds, rats, and squirrels using a robotic cat replica and sound effects.
Panasonic Energy hopes the initiative will inspire Thai youth to pursue robotics, technology, and AI careers while demonstrating how innovation can drive sustainable social and environmental progress.
