When the final hit by the robot built by students of TAR UMT sent the opponent’s robot flying into the air, the TAR UMT Champions erupted into screams — not just of celebration, but of pure relief. This is the third time that members of the Makers Club from TAR UMT won the Champion title in the 16 kg Multibot (Open) category of the Youth Robot Challenge 2026 (Y-RoboC ’26), organised by the Ministry of Youth and Sports from 3 - 5 July 2026. 

For the team coordinator, Aingkaran A/L Selvam, currently pursuing his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with Honours, it was the culmination of a month of challenges, a last-minute rebuild, and years of quietly nursing a passion for building things with his hands. “With less than two weeks left before the competition, our initial robot kept failing the stress tests after weeks of effort and spending funds on it. We had to make the hard call to revive our 2025 champion bot, order a chassis at the last minute, and quickly solve its existing design flaws, like adding covers for the exposed tyres," he said.

Also pursuing TAR UMT’s degree in mechanical engineering, key design/maintenance lead Vikram Kunasegeran was fighting his own fire. “On the night before the competition, during the final testing, several of the robot's weapon motors burned out. We found that the belt length and pulley ratios needed to be adjusted to better suit the motor application," he explained. The team stripped the system down, corrected the ratios, and rebuilt it hours before the first match. "Making those split-second fixes under pressure taught us that theory is only the foundation—real engineering happens when you stay calm and fix complex problems in the heat of the moment."

Aingkaran (left) and Vikram (right), during one of the team’s troubleshooting sessions.

Reflecting on the whole experience and his role as team coordinator, Aingkaran carried the added weight of keeping morale intact. "I would sarcastically joke that we were right on track even while we were still on campus building the bot at 4 am. That was how dedicated the whole team was, where we only had one goal in mind, which is to build a robot that could win," he says.

The dedication and commitment of the team are well nurtured as members of TAR UMT’s Makers Club. “The Makers Club allowed me to participate in projects and competitions that allowed me to gain valuable hands-on experience. The workshop facilities and equipment were very helpful for building, repairing, and improving our robot. It also taught us to be resourceful and make the best use of what we had. Most importantly, the lecturers and members in the Makers Club are very supportive. They are always willing to share their knowledge, guide us, and work together as a team,” Vikram detailed.

Aingkaran added, “The Makers Club is basically our main hub to experiment on our out of the box ideas, and it gave us the perfect space to succeed. It really expands our creativity because the members of the club are from different programmes. Computing students get involved too and show us how we can add machine learning or websites into our projects. As for the faculty, my lecturers are amazing and approachable. I can literally text some of them in the wee hours of the morning about a problem and get a reply shortly. Many of them go way beyond just teaching. They share valuable advice on my business ideas, and I see some of my lecturers as friends who are always ready to listen and guide me.”

Both students came to TAR UMT with the aim of pursuing engineering, due to their childhood interest in understanding how things are built. Aingkaran received a Merit Scholarship while Vikram is a recipient of the TAR UMT Student Loan Fund. “I was determined not to burden my parents financially for my tertiary education. Based on my SPM results, TAR UMT offered me a 50% scholarship to pursue my foundation programme, which has been a great help,” Aingkaran claimed. A 4.0 CGPA in his foundation year earned him a full Merit Scholarship for his degree. "Getting a full scholarship is the perfect motivation for me to study hard so I could graduate with zero student debt," he claimed.

On the other hand, Vikram said, “The study loan fund I received has helped reduce the financial burden of my tuition fees and allowed me to focus more on my studies. Having this support has given me greater peace of mind while pursuing my engineering education.”