A robot competition in the preliminary round of Robocon 2013. Central Da Nang City will host the final round of the Viet Nam Robocon 2013 competition from May 6-12, themed The Green Planet. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Le Lam

DA NANG (VNS)— Central Da Nang City will host the final round of the Viet Nam Robocon 2013 competition from May 6-12 using the theme of The Green Planet.

Under tough new rules, each competing team has to have one automatic robot and one fully manual robot. The Game Field will feature a model of the Earth, with northern and southern hemispheres - plus a noon.

During each three-minute game, the manual robot has to leave the storage area to collect some "leaves", places them in various positions in the Southern Hemisphere, and then continue to load more.

The auto robot next takes some leaves to the Northern Hemisphere, and then loads a "bud" for the manual robot so that it can be shot into the moon. The team with the first bud standing on the moon will win The Green Planet title.

"To triumph at the contest, the teams are required to be creative and skilful in controlling their robots," said Pham Viet Tien, head of the organising board.

Tien said each country hosting the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest had a right to select the contest's theme, adding that this was an opportunity to introduce a nation's culture and identity.

"We considered carefully and decided to choose the environment as the theme of the contest," he said. "The decision quickly won approval from member countries."

"The theme is based on the idea of maintaining a green planet where all people are responsible for protecting nature," he said.

This year, a music show titled Green Robocon will be held to complement the event. Top singers such as Van Mai Huong, Anh Khang and Ho Trung Dung will take part.

Robocon Techshow will be held at the Tien Son Sports and Entertainment Complex. It will display robots invented by students that can be applied to real life situations.

Dang Phan Thu Huong, vice general director of Toyota Motor Viet Nam, sponsor of the contest with Robocon said: "Here I see robots made by students that can be used in real life."

"Many of the robots displayed at the Robocon Techshow were produced to serve demand," she said. "This is meaningful activity for technical students to employ their knowledge into the practice."

Da Nang will also host the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest 2013 (ABU Robocon) on August 16-20 marking the second time the contest has been hosted by Viet Nam.

A total of 32 teams selected from 200 teams from the 40 universities that qualified will attend the final round of the contest.

The champion and the second prize winner in the Robocon Viet Nam will represent the country to participate in the Asia-Pacific Robot Contest. — VNS