Engineering Students Culminate Year with Robot Competition
The Runner-Up team celebrates their victory. From left: Nathan Braid, Pickerington; Lydia Griffith, Cincinnati; Worthington residents Jimmy Devine and his younger sister, Eva Devine, holding the winning robot; and Esther Wong, Worthington.
The studies of first-year honors students from Ohio State’s College of Engineering concluded with the Fundamentals of Engineering Robot Competition at St. John Arena.
The 2010 champions of the robot competition were “The Runner-Up” team, with members Nathan Braid, Jimmy Devine, Lydia Griffith and Esther Wong, who bested 77 other teams to take the title. The team chose the name “The Runner-Up” in the hopes of an ironic win. “We wanted to hear that announcement: “And the winner is…The Runner-Up!” says Griffith.
Teams of honors students entered robots they designed and built in an end-of-quarter competition to simulate the servicing of small-scale models of sustainable, alternative energy machines -- all within a 2-minute time limit. The robots had to navigate around specially-built, 12-by 12-foot courses with instructions to install a blade into a tidal power generator, locate and activate a wind turbine machine that had stopped and properly orient a solar power panel to a specific direction. Finally, the robots limited in size to 9 inches square and constructed of sheet metal, PVC pipe and Erector set components, had to return to their starting position and press the corresponding button that recorded the energy efficiency of the research station.
The competition highlighted the college’s First-Year Engineering program, which combines lectures, projects and labs. Along the way, the students learn team-building, project management and communication skills through oral presentations and research exercises; find out about all the college has to offer, such as participation in student-led projects like the Buckeye Bullet; and have interaction with senior faculty members and industry representatives. The program is part of a nationwide engineering education reform initiative originally funded by the National Science Foundation.
Corporate sponsors who provided judges for the competition were Honda, Shell, National Instruments, P&G, Eaton, Raytheon, Alcatel-Lucent, GE Aviation, Northrop Grumman, ExxonMobil, MindWare Technologies Ltd. and Alcoa.
Another Option: Nanotechnology
Students could also compete in the Nanotechnology poster competition where students complete microfluidic cell research and nano technology cell patch theoretical design. In the first project, students perform tests in a microfluidics lab-on-a-chip to see if surface features affect how cells adhere to the surface. The second project has students designing a device for injecting drugs/DNA into cells to combat genetic diseases. The winners of the 2010 Nanotechnology poster competition are Dan Manning, Megan Tischler, Sravya Vajapeyajula, and Johnny Wu.
For details on the Fundamentals of Engineering for Honors program, go to http://feh.eng.ohio-state.edu/. For more information about the First-Year Engineering Program, visit http://engineering.osu.edu/fe/index.php.
