WRO Competition Projects - Competitive Robotics Excellence
Khaled competed in the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) for three consecutive years (2012-2014) with progressive achievements: 3rd place National (2012), 1st place National and 1st place Arab Regional (2013), and 1st place National (2014). The 2013 project was particularly innovative - a custom ECG-based emotion detection robot featuring a hand-etched PCB with multi-stage analog front-end, real-time heart rate variability (HRV) analysis detecting six emotions, and Bluetooth integration with LEGO Mindstorms. This foundation-building experience established Khaled's engineering identity and competitive robotics capability.
Problem Solved
Demonstrated innovative robotics engineering by detecting human emotions from physiological signals and translating them into robot behaviors
- •Led all coding and embedded programming across three competition years
- •Designed and hand-etched custom PCB for ECG signal processing (2013)
- •Developed firmware for ATMega32 microcontroller in C
- •Implemented real-time HRV analysis algorithms for emotion detection
- •Programmed robot behavior systems on LEGO Mindstorms and VEX platforms
- •Coordinated technical strategy with research-focused teammate
- ✓Won 1st place National AND 1st place Arab Regional championship (2013)
- ✓Achieved 3 consecutive years of podium finishes in national competition
- ✓Qualified for International competition in Malaysia (could not attend due to funding)
- ✓Built custom ECG hardware with hand-etched PCB for emotion detection
- ✓Implemented real-time HRV analysis detecting 6 emotions (happy, sad, stressed, anxious, fear, lonely)
- ✓Designed multi-stage analog front-end with op-amp circuits and noise filtering
- ✓Transitioned from LEGO to VEX platform, winning 1st place in College category (2014)
Performance
- • Real-time emotion detection from ECG signals
- • Bluetooth relay from custom hardware to LEGO controller
Scale
- • 6 emotions detected from HRV analysis
- • 3 years of consecutive competition participation
- • 3 podium finishes including 2 championships
Technology Stack
Challenge
Building custom ECG hardware capable of detecting subtle heart rate variations for emotion classification
Solution
Designed complete analog front-end with multi-stage op-amp amplification, external ADC for precision, and multi-layer noise filtering (low-pass, high-pass, 50/60Hz notch)
Impact
Created functional emotion detection hardware from scratch, hand-etching the PCB
Challenge
Implementing real-time emotion detection algorithms on embedded hardware
Solution
Developed R-peak detection for heart rate measurement, calculated HRV metrics (RMSSD, SDNN, pNN50), and implemented per-user calibration with threshold-based emotion mapping
Impact
Successfully detected 6 distinct emotions from physiological signals
Challenge
Bridging custom hardware with LEGO Mindstorms required by competition rules
Solution
Used Bluetooth to relay processed emotion data from ATMega32 circuit through computer to Mindstorms controller
Impact
Achieved innovation beyond standard competition approaches while meeting platform requirements
Situation
The World Robot Olympiad brings together students from around the world to compete in robotics challenges. Starting at age 16 in 2012, Khaled entered with a teammate, beginning a three-year journey that would establish his engineering identity. The 2013 competition allowed open-category innovation, creating an opportunity to go far beyond standard LEGO-based solutions.
Task
For 2013, the team decided to build something unprecedented: a robot that could detect human emotions from physiological signals and respond accordingly. This required building custom ECG hardware, implementing real-time signal processing, and integrating with the competition-required LEGO platform.
Action
Khaled took the technical lead role, responsible for all coding and PCB manufacturing. He designed a complete analog front-end circuit with multi-stage op-amp amplification and multi-layer noise filtering to capture clean ECG signals. The PCB was designed in Eagle CAD and hand-etched by Khaled. Firmware in C on ATMega32 implemented R-peak detection and HRV analysis, calculating metrics like RMSSD, SDNN, and pNN50 to map to six emotions: happy, sad, stressed, anxious, fear, and lonely. Per-user calibration established baselines for threshold-based classification. Bluetooth relayed emotion data through a computer to the LEGO Mindstorms brain, which controlled robot behaviors based on detected emotions.
Result
The emotion detection robot won 1st place National and 1st place Arab Regional in 2013, qualifying the team for International competition in Malaysia (which they could not attend due to funding). Combined with 3rd place in 2012 and 1st place in 2014 (on VEX platform), this three-year competitive robotics journey established Khaled's engineering foundation and proved his ability to innovate beyond standard approaches.
Technical
- • Analog circuit design: front-end, op-amp stages, filtering
- • PCB design (Eagle) and hand-etching fabrication
- • Embedded C programming on microcontrollers
- • Signal processing: ECG analysis, R-peak detection, HRV calculation
- • Bluetooth communication protocols
- • Multiple robot platforms (NXT-G, RobotC)
- • Progression from graphical to text-based programming
Soft Skills
- • Competition strategy and time optimization
- • Team collaboration with clear role division
- • Technical presentation and documentation
Key Insights
- 💡 Innovation beyond standard approaches wins competitions
- 💡 Hardware-software integration creates unique capabilities
- 💡 Competitive robotics builds engineering confidence and identity