‘DIBOT’ and ‘ZYBORG’, highlights of digital literacy opening ceremony

By: Widad Shahirah Hairuddin

GOMBAK, 28 May 2024 – The Unleashing Potential: Empowering Students in the Digital Age event was a one-day programme held today from 9.00am to 5.00pm at HS Building. Organised by COMM 4995: Practical Training Communication students, this event centred on the theme ‘Digital Literacy’. Many sub-events such as talks, podcasts, forums, and an exhibition were held during the event to educate the students.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Head of the Department of Communication; Associate Professor Dr. Tengku Siti Aisha binti Tengku Azzman, and Professor of the Department of Communication, Dato’ Sri Dr. Syed Arabi bin Syed Abdullah Idid. The ceremony was also graced with the presence of a special guest, the president of Alpha-Group Malaysia, Mr. Muhammad Shukri, who is also an IIUM alumni. 

In the opening speech, Associate Professor Dr. Tengku Siti Aisha delivered her congratulatory remarks to Practical Training students for successfully bringing the event to life. She mentioned that organising the program is an essential part for the students to prepare themselves before going for their internship. 

The ceremony was then officiated with the assistance of ‘DIBOT’, a robot made by engineering students from the IIUM Roboteam. Controlled using a remote by an engineering student; Muhammad Adib bin Suid, ‘DIBOT’ made its way towards Associate Professor Dr. Tengku Siti Aisha to hand over the ceremonial scissors for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

The opening ceremony was a collaboration between the IIUM Roboteam from IIUM’s Kulliyyah of Engineering. IIUM Roboteam had represented the IIUM in various robotic competitions, such as Robotic Contest Malaysia and Penang International Robotic Competition. 

“The robot is symbolic for the officiation ceremony as it matches and further amplifies the digital and futuristic theme of our event,” said Programme Director, Nur Hayati binti Ahmad Baki.

After the officiation ceremony, the guests and VIPs were led to Human Sciences Speech Lab for a digital space tour. A montage was played and the mascot of the event was presented to the guests.

Dressed in full black attire, head gear, and decorated in neon lights, the mascot of the event, ‘ZYBORG’ made its special appearance. 

“The whole black suit is actually from a biker suit and it reflects and visualises a soldier. We chose the soldier look because we figured that the military started to apply AI in its weapons. So in the future, maybe in 20 years, we expect that the military may use cyborgs as soldiers,” mentioned the Head of the Special Task Bureau, Nurul Ellysha Fitri binti Zakaria, who was in charge of decorations and the mascot for the event.  

The orange and purple neon lights wrapped around the mascot’s torso, arms, and head were hand-sewn by the Practical Training students. 

“The purple defines imagination, idealism, power and ambition which aligns with our theme, ‘futuristic’. As for the orange, it is our Communication Department’s official colour,” she explained. “ It is undeniable that AI could be a big hand to human beings but there is a thing that AI lacks, which is the human touch and the creative thinking that only exists in humans.”

The media partnerships for this program were IIUMToday, IIUMFM, and IIUMTV. This program was sponsored by SKEM Driving Academy and Malaysian Community Care Foundation (MCCF).***