Tech Robotics Teams Dominate International Contest
by George Zamora
SOCORRO, N.M., May 17, 2001 -- Students on robotics teams from
New Mexico Tech were called to the awards stand more times than
anyone else during last month's Eighth Annual Fire-Fighting Home
Robot Contest, an international robotics contest which is held
each year at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.
Five out of the nine robotics entries fielded by New Mexico
Tech placed among the top ten positions in the senior division
of the fire-fighting robot competition, coming out ahead of more
than 50 other competing robots designed by individuals and teams
from throughout the United States, Canada, Korea, Israel, Romania,
and Kuwait.
"New Mexico Tech 2," an entry submitted by Tech
graduate student Jose Guilberto, placed second overall in the
senior division; while "New Mexico Tech 1," another
robot designed and built by Guilberto, ended up in 11th place.
Other New Mexico Tech entries also fared well in the robotics
contest, including a fourth-place finish by "Tail,"
a robot designed and developed by Tech students Michael Berg,
Seth Schuyler, Bill Willems, and Thomee Wright.
"Hades," a robot built by team members Michael
Carpenter, Kyle Lamb, and Daniel Rodriguez finished sixth; "The
Robert Paulson Project," by Scott Dearie, Kevin Fisher, Brian
Rajala, and Steve Wasson finished seventh; and "New Mexico
Tech 3," designed and built by Tech electrical engineering
professors and robotics teams faculty advisors Stephen Bruder
and Kevin Wedeward, finished ninth.
All contestants at the Fire-Fighting Home Robot Contest were
challenged to build a computerized, autonomous (not remotely controlled),
robotic device, which could move through the
hallways and rooms of a scaled-down, one-story house, detect a
lit candle, and then extinguish the flame. The team which accomplished
the task in the least amount of time was declared the winner.
The other New Mexico Tech fire-fighting robots entered in
this year's international competition included:
- "B.J." (which placed 11th) and "B.J. 2"
(which placed 19th), team members were Jonathan Andrews, David
Baird, Jon Carmignani, and Miguel Provencio; and
- "El Patron" (which placed 21st), team members
were Anthony Montoya, Jr., Ivan Olguin, and Randy Sena.
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