TAR UMT Staff Participation in the JPK Junior Skills Competition (Final) Internet of Things 2026 

The Faculty of Computing and Information Technology (FOCS) staff members, comprising Prof Ts. Dr. Tew Yiqi, Mr. Wong Wai Zhong, together with laboratory officers Mr. Mohd Abrar, Mr. Nur Aimie Iqmal, and Mr. Muhammad Syafiq as workshop assistants, actively participated in the Jabatan Pembangunan Kemahiran (JPK) Junior Skills Competition (Final) for Internet of Things, held from 17 to 20 August 2026 at the Centre for Instructor and Advanced Skill Training (CIAST) in Shah Alam. The esteemed panel of judges for the event was spearheaded by Dr. Tew from TAR UMT, alongside Mr. Hasrulnizam from KKTM Petaling Jaya, Mr. Mohd Arrifin from Myduino, and Mr. Nur Akhyar representing Politeknik Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah (PSA). Together, the staff and judicial committee ensured the smooth execution, technical precision, and fair assessment of the nation’s top young technical talents throughout the four-day event.

The event commenced on the first day with the physical and technical setup of the competition venue at CIAST, establishing a robust environment for all required hardware and networking configurations. On the second day, a comprehensive familiarisation session was conducted for the twelve participants spanning six competing teams, which hailed from Sekolah Kebangsaan Ibrahim, MRSM Bentong, Pahang, and Kolej JSJ. During this phase, the students were introduced to the testbed environment, which focused on ESP32 programming across two sensor and actuator nodes, local area network (LAN) MQTT messaging protocols, and integration with the IoT MQTT Panel mobile application.

The main competition unfolded on the third day, divided into intensive morning and afternoon practical modules that rigorously tested the participants' problem-solving and IoT development skills. In the morning session, teams tackled the Smart Farming challenge titled "The Autonomous Greenhouse," where they configured automated systems to monitor and control agricultural parameters. The afternoon session shifted focus to the Smart Home domain through "The Guardian Link," requiring students to build connected security and automation routines. On the final day, the judging panel dedicated their efforts to meticulous evaluation and marking, reviewing the recorded video demonstrations submitted by each team to determine the overall winners based on functionality, execution, and technical complexity.