Gadjah Mada University (Indonesia) 2021 Shell Eco-marathon Roundup: Semar UGM Thrives!
The legendary 2021 Shell Eco-marathon program is now over. Along with other teams from many renowned universities, Semar UGM participated in the competition series from October 2020 to July 2021. Both Semar Proto and Semar Urban, two separate teams under Semar UGM, finished 24th (13th in the Asia Pacific and Middle East Region) and 42nd (21st in Asia) globally. Since last year, the Shell Eco-marathon has taken place in a virtual environment entirely to adapt to the current pandemic.
Semar General Manager for 2020/2021 M. Rian Alif Madani said the 2021 season comprised a different range of competitions from previous years. The program organizer, Royal Dutch Shell, arranged a new global Virtual League scheme where participating teams across three regions, namely Americas, the Asia Pacific and the Middle East, and Europe and Africa, were placed in a league table based on their accumulated points from five different competitions.
In the Pitch the Future competition, Semar finished top three for the Asia Pacific and the Middle East Region. Exploring the innovative ideas to track and reduce CO2 emissions from vehicles, the UGM team came up with net carbon-neutral vehicles and earned 25 added points. They competed with the other 273 teams from 56 countries around the world.
In the Road to 2050 Bonus Challenge, held in January 2021, Semar won third place on a regional scale and succeeded in scooping additional 20 points to the table. Both Semar Proto and Semar Urban achieved the top 6th and 8th respectively (the Asia Pacific and the Middle East Region) in the Autonomous Programming Competition by completing all twelve goals set for the match.
“Of 200 teams registered, we earned 12th place for Semar Proto and 16th for Semar Urban globally,” said Rian on Thursday (15/7).
He added that the team also partook in the Virtual Off-Track Awards, where they authored ten essays on the entire categories contested, including safety, communications, technical innovation, vehicle design, data and telemetry, and simulate to innovate. They also contributed to the planting of more than 70 trees and free EHS equipment provision. In the final competition, Virtual Technical Inspection, the team nailed the prototype category for the battery-electric class in Asia and won second place. This accomplishment awarded 946 points to their league standings. Overall, Semar Proto earned a total of 966 points, and Semar Urban secured 910 points.
“We are grateful for the achievements and thank all parties for the help and prayers during the competition. It is not the end of our journey. Semar UGM will continue to thrive and succeed internationally and nationally and make the university proud,” he said.
Currently, Semar UGM is gearing up for the upcoming 2021 Energy-Efficient Car Contest hosted by the Indonesian Ministry of Culture, Education, Research, and Technology.
Author: Salma
Photo: Pre-pandemic photo
