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With two months of persistence and deadline pressure at Trinity College's annual Firefighting Robot Contest, the challenge was met by 18 students in MU professor John Wright's microprocessor electronics class.
The group traveled to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., last month to compete in the senior division of the international contest. The competition required robots to locate a burning candle amid a large maze, snuff it out and return to the starting point.
MU technology students split into three teams, each building a robot for the competition.
Of the 41 robots and 30 teams that competed in the senior division, Millersville's teams earned eighth, ninth and 12th place. Trinity College earned first and second place in the senior division.
MU senior Tom Thomas, a technology education major, said building his group's robot, which they named High Treason, took countless experiments. "When we started out, our goal was to move the robot without (it) hitting a wall," Thomas said. "Then we concentrated on searching for the candle and getting (the robot) home."
Dan Koch, a junior industrial technology major, said the robots' movements were controlled through computer coding transmitted through sensors. Koch said when the MU group arrived at the contest, it had a few surprises.
"On the day of the competition we spent all day in the gym reprogramming," Koch said. "We had to adjust sensors and code because there were different obstacles."
On April 30 the teams conducted live demonstrations in Stayer Hall, where onlookers watched the robots work their way through an 8-by-8-foot maze.MU senior T.J. Plummar, also an industrial technology major, said the project taught him to not give up. "I learned that you have to be ready for anything," Plummar said. "You have to expect changes because different things happen in the maze."
The robots, which cost about $1,000 apiece to build, were paid for with funds from the National Association of Industrial Technology.
Wright, who is an automation and electronics professor, said students had only eight weeks to build the robots. "I told them, 'It can happen,'!\p" he said. "Other teams had a year. I didn't tell them that."
Wright said the project helped students learn how to work through complex technology. "Students learned how to dissect big problems, take things apart and put them back together," he said.
More importantly, Wright said, building the robots taught students about working together. "Besides system integration, this is about teamwork, problem solving, creative thinking and persistence," he said.
Wright said it all comes down to practice and patience.
The students "also go through emotion, too. When something doesn't work out, they crash, and I say, 'You have to go back. You're so close to solving it,'" he said. "In real research and development, failure is necessary in order to succeed."
Sophomore Drew Culbertson, an industrial technology major, said the robot project taught him about technology and more.
(395) (15)"I learned a little about computer programming, engineering … a little bit about everything," he said. "And then I put it all together."
E-mail: mpennino@lnpnews.com
