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S'pore's 'Usain Bolt' breaks robot world sprint record

In his speech, the Prime Minister recounted stories of people who made a difference

A SINGAPORE sprinter has yet to snag a spot in the Olympic 100m finals but in the field of robotics, the country can now boast of its very own Usain Bolt.

A robot created by a Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) team broke the world record for sprints at the Federation of International Robotic Associations RoboWorld Cup in Bristol, with its time of 32sec over 6m. The BBC dubbed it Usain Bolt.

Such successes by students in polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education speak of a good education at all levels, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The NYP team won 12 medals at the meet, which drew teams from 27 countries.

Mr Joshua Chao recently led a Nanyang Technological University team to sixth place in a US defence agency's crowdsourcing competition to design unmanned aerial vehicles.

Their entry beat 139 others, including from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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