Tech students build robot
Group says winning robot competition was not its only priority
Travis Reynolds
Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: News
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For Eastern's chapter of the National Association of Industrial Technology, the word robot takes on a more down-to-earth meaning than those examples. Four members of Eastern's NAIT chapter built a metal-detecting robot and tested its capabilities this October when they entered it into the Robot Manipulator Contest in Panama City, Fla.
The yearly contest involves schools from across the United States, all of which build automatic or remote-controlled robots with a particular task in mind.
This year's task: to locate a hidden magnet buried in 24 square feet of sand and mark it with a steel spike.
"Each (participating) school had a different way of finding the magnet," said Sergio Sgro, co-adviser to Eastern's NAIT chapter. "They earned points based on how close the spike was to the magnet." Points were also assigned based on how quickly the robot completed its task.
Sgro said the project was about students taking the principles they've learned in class and applying them to a real-life application. Even so, he stressed that no experience was required for people interested in working on the robot, which was called ELMER.
"Basically, we took a hand metal detector, ripped it apart, modified it and connected it to a personal alarm," said Jason Gaddis, a senior fire science major who helped build the robot. "We used modified drills for the motors."
Gaddis said ELMER performed well on its first run in the sand, but stripped a wheel on its second try. Eastern's robot didn't win the competition, but Gaddis said winning was not their only priority.
"The team experience was a lot of it," Gaddis said. "It's different (from class projects) when it's for yourself."
Sgro said the NAIT chapter had fun and learned a great deal about teamwork and robotics in general.
"We had to figure out how to break it," Gaddis said, "so we could figure out how to fix it. It's a lot of fun for anyone interested in robotics."
Sgro said the next Robot Manipulator Contest will be held in Nashville, Tenn. next year. He described it as a 'bot battle competition where robots would compete in seek-and-retrieve games.
"It gets Eastern's name out there," Gaddis said. "We're pretty much dealing with the number-one industrial association; there's a lot of networking."
Gaddis added ELMER performed well on a tight budget.
"We've got 50, 60 bucks in ELMER," Gaddis said. "We were competing with schools that had thousands sunk in their robots."
Students who wish to see ELMER can see it on the first floor of the Whalin Technology Complex, where it is on display.