Hello everyone! My name is Meguru Ito, and I am the advisor of the Design & Fabrication Club, or “Dezafa Club” for short. Today, I would like to share our experience at the recently held 37th National College of Technology Programming Contest in Kagawa (Takamatsu).

Commonly known as the KOSEN Programming Contest, this is an official competition where KOSEN students from across Japan compete using their ideas and skills in information and communication technology. Along with competitions such as the KOSEN Robot Contest, it is one of the largest and longest-running competitions for KOSEN students. The competition consists of three categories. The Competition Category is a team-based programming competition in which students compete according to a given set of rules or themes. In the Challenge Category, students develop projects based on a theme that changes each year. Finally, the Free Category allows students to create original software and systems based on themes of their own choosing.

This year, two teams from ICT participated in the Challenge Category. The first team, consisting of 4th year students Taichi Eguchi and Hayato Sumi, and 2nd year students Akira Azuma, Reo Sakai, and Kai Osawa, developed a system called “TAS-MIRU.” TAS-MIRU is a system designed to help teams assign tasks more effectively during projects. By entering a project specification and information about each team member’s skill set, the system generates an optimal distribution of tasks.

The second team, made up of 2nd year students Haru Abe, Kent Kawaguchi, So Kajita, Kotaro Higuchi, and Hiroki Yatsuo, developed a system called “Animalarm.” Animalarm is a system designed to protect crops from wildlife damage. Multiple speakers are placed around a field and activated in sequence, starting with the ones farther away, to drive approaching wild animals away from the crops.

Following the presentations and demonstration judging, both teams were given the Encouragement Award, which is presented to all teams that advance to the final round. Although we had hoped for a higher award, the students worked incredibly hard to prepare for the competition. At the event, they enthusiastically demonstrated and explained their systems to visitors and company representatives. They also attended presentations by students from other KOSEN schools and actively interacted with people at corporate booths. Opportunities like this do not come along very often, so I believe the experience provided our students with a great deal of inspiration. In fact, some of the students came up to me afterward and said things like, “It was really interesting talking with someone from XX company!” and “The presentation by XX KOSEN was amazing!” Thanks to their enthusiasm for meeting people, our students also ranked highly in the “Business Card Quest,” a small event within the competition where participants try to collect as many business cards as possible. 

As ICT’s Programming Contest advisor, I have been supporting our students as they work toward reaching the national competition. And each time, I am reminded of just how exciting the KOSEN Programming Contest is. The presentations by students from other KOSEN schools are always unique and fascinating, and you can also feel the enthusiasm of the companies taking part in the event. In recent years, the value of KOSEN students in the job market has continued to grow, and this becomes especially clear when speaking directly with company representatives. I hope experiences like this will give our students a chance to understand both where they stand today and how much potential they have for the future. Next year’s competition will be hosted by National Institute of Technology, Kurume College. 

I hope our students will take on the challenge again next year and work hard to make it to the national competition!

Meguru Ito