A robot from the PEM 2008 team, which won the ABU contest last month.

The government has given Bt500,000 to the winners of the ABU Robot Contest to help them take on the world at the Inter-national Robocon.

The world challenge is in Pune, India.

This country's tilt at the title has until the end of next month to prepare.

As many as 19 countries are expected to participate.

Thailand will be represented by PEM 2008, of Sakon Nakhon Technical College. It won the local competition in June.

"We are confident that our team will win again," team adviser Pairach Noo-khuntod says. He says its robots are now even more efficient that those used at the local contest.

"We have improved performance," Pairach explains.

Team member Theera-sak Tebamrung adds that all members are practising hard on a daily basis.

PEM 2008 will take four of its improved robots to the event. Three are automatic and the last manually controlled.