Engineering students demonstrate their skills in ECE robotics competition

11:24 a.m., May 27, 2014--More than 40 University of Delaware electrical and computer engineering students participated in the second annual Robotics World Cup competition on Friday, May 16. 

The event was organized by Chengmo Yang, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, as a culminating hands-on opportunity for students to demonstrate design and decision-making skills they learned during their Microprocessor Systems (CPEG222) class.

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For the competition, students designed line-following robots using 32-bit micro controllers and robot kits. The robots use light sensors to detect tracks as the students control the robot’s speed and direction.

Tyler Browning, a sophomore computer engineering major, gave some insight into the design process, saying, “You have to be willing to dig deep to solve the problems at hand. When something was not working correctly my partner and I were able to isolate the problem, develop a solution and implement it into our code in order to get our robot functioning correctly. In real-world engineering, that is what it takes to get the job done.”

During the first stage of the competition teams of two competed side-by-side, racing their robots on identical, parallel tracks. The first robot to conquer the track and stop correctly in the finish zone was deemed the winner. 

Teams continued to compete against each other in a round-robin format, with teams winning two or more races advancing to the elimination stage.

“The event was filled with suspense and unpredictability,” said Browning. “We had no clue how our robot would react and match up to everyone else’s, so it was always exciting to see our robot cross the finish line.”

The winners of the competition were as follows:

• First place: Ben Sampson and Connor Zani;
• Second place: Derek Alleyne and Tyler Browning; and
• Third place: Aleks Azen and Justin Phillips

Article by Jessica Zoch

Photos by Evan Krape