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Engineers build robot, compete to pick up soda can |
| on 30-10-2007 15:53 |
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 In April, there will be some new buzz around the Plaza. The streets and hotels will be filled as if Kansas City were hosting the Super Bowl.
It isn't football, but it is the Super Bowl of robotics competition.
UMKC's 2007-08 Robotics team is gearing up for the 2008 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region 5 Robotics Competition. It will be held in the Intercontinental Hotel April 17-20. There will be approximately 30 other teams trying to give UMKC some competition.
Every year, IEEE sets the rules and guidelines for the competition. The rules are given early in the fall semester to all participating teams.
From this point, teams begin the hard work of building a robot that adheres to a size and weight guideline. The robot must perform a set of tasks while trying to be the most accurate and fastest amongst the competition.
The rules are the easy part.
There are no guidelines about building the robot. It's up to the team to build a robot that can grasp a soda can and determine its weight while staying within the rules.
Another hard task is that robot has to maneuver on a track that the team hasn't seen.
This is all for the purpose of technical advancement while having some fun.
"Last spring, it was a similar concept on hazardous material detected by color," said Jared Bayne, project manager of the UMKC robotics team and senior in electrical and computing engineering. "The concept allows robots to enter in areas where humans may not be able to enter."
The concept of detection of hazardous material was last year's concept. This year's competition has a twist. The 2006-07 competition was about detecting color schemes. The 2007-08 competition will ask the robot to weigh a soda can and place it in the correct weight area.
The soda can represents a package containing hazardous material. This serves as a test for robots' abilities to distinguish actual hazardous compartments that can be differentiated by color or weight according to the type of hazardous material.
It's not just this concept that intrigues the team. It's seeing a robot they built perform a command they programmed.
And yes, it's about school spirit. It's about bringing glory to UMKC.
"For several years, we had the steel bridge team," said Dr. Cory Beard, adviser to the robotics team and rofessor of electrical and computing engineering. "Now, we have the robotics competition. It's getting into the spirit."
Beard has been the technical adviser for the Robotics team since its inception. Another adviser who has been a great financial support for the Robotics team is Deborah Dilks.
Dilks is the manager and academic adviser of electrical and computing engineering.
"I have contacted alumni and have asked for funding from their companies," Dilks said. "Over the years, we have had contributions from G.E., U.S. Construction, Bibb & Associates and other companies for the purpose of helping the robotics team."
The UMKC robotics team has been in existence for four years. In 2006, the team had a tremendous run. It finished 13th out of 36 teams in the 2006 robotics competition held in San Antonio, Texas.
The team aims to bring it home this year.Recommend this article...
Last update: 30-10-2007 15:55
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