VietNamNet Bridge – Vu Van Thang, 19, from Thai Binh province has won one of the five top prizes at the National Creativeness Competition for Children and Youth 2009 for his robot made entirely from items found in the trash.

The organizers received nearly 300 projects, up 11 percent over 2008, including 51 from HCM City, 38 from Danang and 14 from Hanoi.

The awards ceremony will take place in Hanoi on September 23, where five youths will receive first prize: Thang’s robot, a rain-making machine by Bui Phuoc Lai, 18 from Da Nang, a machine to clean poultry farms by Nguyen Vu Hoang, 15, from Thanh Hoa, an anti-theft electric circuit by Tran Thanh Phong, 17, from Tien Giang and “Historical Event” software by Huynh Duc Loi, 16, from HCM City.

The Union of Vietnamese Scientific and Technological Association, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Youth Union sponsored the competition.

Some winning products made from waste:

Aiming to make a housework robot, Vu Van Thang, who has just entered the HCM City Industry University, built a robot that can walk and move his hands.

According to the jury, this robot has 11 small motors to control its movement. It can move its hands, arms and fingers continuously, similar to a human.

This robot was made of items from the trash, such as plastic pieces taken from kids’ toys and soft drink cans.

Thang turns a control of computer games into the robot’s remote control.

Nguyen Van Hoa, 18, from Bac Giang won the consolation prize at last year’s contest for an excavator. This year he spent just one month building a multi-functional fire-truck, which can both stamp out fire, load and unload cargo and bulldoze heavy things.

This truck was also made of recycled materials like old ball-point pens, rulers, and water pipes. Hoa only spent 200,000 dong to buy some special items that he could not find in the garbage.

This control is also made from buttons taken from old batteries, colorful paper and chipboard.

Some major elements of this crane are made from cans and cardboard.

The two cargo-transport robots made by Phan Van Mam, 17, from Nam Dinh, won the special prize.

VietNamNet/VNE