The faculty in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Akron believe that student competitions build confidence, increase students’ design abilities, develop a sense of community within the department, allow our students to get to know students at other universities, provide career opportunities, and are just plain fun. We are proud of our students’ abilities and see competitions as both a way to show off these abilities, and more importantly to have the students learn this for themselves.
The IEEE Student Chapter overseas all student teams that intend to participate in any competition/special project. A list of past and present competitions can be seen below
NASA Lunabotics Mining Competition:
This competition requires participants to build a robot capable of mining lunar regolith for the purpose of oxygen production in the moon. The competition will take place at NASA Kennedy Space Center, where the team will compete against 29 other colleges. In additional to the test of robot mining-capability, the competition also includes a technical report, video, power point, and out reach project- all of which will be judged,and count towards the final score.
2010 IEEE PAPER CONTEST:
Through a partnership with the Akron IEEE, the Univerisy of Akron will be participating in the IEEE paper contest for the first time in many years. The competition is open to all undergraduate students, and requires that entrants submit a paper no later than the 1st week of the spring semester. An oral presentation on March 18th will also be part of the final judging process. Monetary prizes will be awarded to the top 3 entries, and the orverall winner will be forwarded to the Region 2 paper contest, and SAC in April. Additional information can be found on the home page.
NASA Robotics:
Through a partnership with NASA Glenn Research Center, a team of students will have the opportunity to build and test a lunar regolith-cutting robot.
NASA Moon Work Competition:
The NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the Exploration Technology Development Program, and the Advanced Planning and Partnership Office at Langley Research Center encourage college students to get involved with NASA's return to the Moon by helping to design the tools and instrument pages needed for the next generation manned moon rover. Last year,A small team of ECE students submitted a paper to this competition, and were selected to be one of 3 teams to travel to Flagstaff, AZ to present their paper. the team placed 2nd overall. This year, a new team plans to enter a submission.
Myers Motors Electric Vehicles:
A team of students has been partnered with a local electric vehicle company, Myers Motors (http://www.myersmotors.com/), to develop a battery management system for their vehicles. The team has been working with the company for over a year, and has developed a number of working management systems. The team continues their work to this day.
Collegiate Inventors Competition:
The Collegiate Inventors Competition has recognized, rewarded, and encouraged hundreds of students to share their inventive ideas with the world. The Competition promotes exploration in invention, science, engineering, technology, and other creative endeavors and provides a window on the technologies from which society will benefit in the future. Entries are judged on the originality and inventiveness of the new idea, process, or technology. The entry must be complete, workable, and well articulated. Entries are also judged on their potential value to society. A small team of students submitted an application to this competition, entitled “Nickel Zinc Battery Management”.
Electric Bike(s):
A group of freshman began working on an electric bike that was donated to the University in fall 08. The team is doing some redesigning of the bike itself, as well as the battery (eVionyx NiZn) management system, and data collection.
In addition to this project, a graduate student is also currently working on an electric “trike” – the student will also be doing battery-management related work with the bike once the design is complete.
Solectria Electric Truck:
This senior design project revolves around an electric vehicle that was donated by the park service. It was sitting for some time and is being upgraded and repaired so that it is drivable again.
Tercel Electric Vehicle:
The Tercel is an electric vehicle that was designed by a group of ECE students over 10 years ago. There is currently a group of graduate students working on a charger for the vehicle, with the goal of making the vehicle functional.
Chem-E Car:
Recently, 2 EE students assisted the Chem-E Car team is designing an electrical system to control the vehicle in competition. The team placed in their competition.
NASA Explorer's High-Altitude Balloon Satellite:
A few students from the X Prize team assisted with a NASA Explorer's post that launched high-altitude weather balloons for the purpose of flying experiments designed by highschool students. The Akron student assisted by building a timing circuit that controlled an on-board camera. The camera returned with photos from over 100kft.
ROBOGAMES -
340lb Combat Robot:
The 340lb combat robot competition places two robots against each other in a large enclosed arena. Robots can use almost any conceivable weapon to destroy it's opponent. The winner is determined by the judges based on the amount of damage caused by each robot.
Fire-Fighting Robot:
The Fire-Fighting Robot competition places the robot in a small mock building with a candle hidden in one of the rooms. The robot must search for the candle without any human input and then extinguish the candle by itself. The candle could be in any room, so the robot must be smart enough to know which rooms it has been in and where it has to go.
Maze-Solving Robot:
The Maze-Solving Robot competition consists of a large complex maze, the layout of which is unknown to the competitor at the start of the competition. The robot must be placed at the start of the maze and find its way through the maze, knowing where it has been at all times, and make it to the end in the shortest time possible.
Ribbon-Climbing Robot:
The Ribbon-Climbing Robot is used to simulate the Space Elevator, a new possibility for traveling to space from earth. This Ribbon Climber must get it's energy from a transmitted ground based power supply and travel up the ribbon in the shortest time possible.
Sumo 3kg R/C:
The Sumo R/C robot is a remote controlled robot that is designed to push it's opponent outside of a circular ring. The whole robot must weigh less than 3kg and cannot destroy the other robot.
Sumo 3kg Autonomous:
The Autonomous Sumo robot is a self-controlled robot whose goal is to push it's opponent outside of a circular ring. The robot is programmed to recognize not only it's opponent, but also the white line surrounding the ring so that it does not run itself out of bounds.
IGVC:
Every year, Oakland University in Michigan hosts the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition. The task is to construct an autonomous vehicle smaller than a golf cart that will traverse a quarter mile course on the campus. The course is bounded by white lines, and contains several types of obstacles. Waypoints may be provided. In 2008, a team of ECE Seniors constructed a robot for this competition, and this year, another senior design team is attempting the competition again. The first robot was constructed on a donated wheel-chair base and contained an array of sensors, including a vision system, and on-board compass, and a 10cm GPS system. Our students finished in the top 20 of the 47 teams competing.
Space Elevator Competition:
In 2008, a team of six ECE freshmen and two ECE sophomores decided to compete in the Earth and Space Conference competition. The task was to build a robot that would climb a twenty foot tether. There were three separate events, speed with batteries, speed with weight, and speed using beamed power. Our students did very well, and had the strongest robot at the competition. Our team of eight young students tied for first place in the competition with a group of seniors from the University of California Santa Cruz.
Trinity-College Firefighting Robot:
Every year, Trinity College in Connecticut holds a Firefighting Robot Competition. The essential task is to create an autonomous robot that will detect a fire in a house, navigate through the house around obstacles, find the fire, extinguish the fire, and return to its base. In 2008, a team of ECE Seniors constructed a robot for this competition. The robot contained an array of sensors, including ultraviolet flame detectors, ultrasonic rangers, infrared rangers, an on-board compass, and optical encoders for the wheels. Our students got first place in the poster competition, and won an iRobot
Lunar Rover:
In 2006, a team of ECE Seniors competed in the Earth and Space Conference competition for the first time. The task was to build a robot that would remotely drive around a lunar surface, find a buried lava tube which possibly held geothermal energy, clean sand off the lava tube, drill a hole in the lava tube, reseal the lava tube, disconnect from the lava tube, and drive away. Our Seniors did very well, and won first place in the competition. They did so well, in fact, that the particular lava tube problem was retired after that.
Robo-Hockey:
In 2008, a team of four freshmen participated in The National Robotics Challenge: Robo-Hockey Competition, which required the construction of two remote controlled vehicles that played hockey against other teams. Even though they scored the first goal of the day, our team finished with a Bronze Award, and spent a lovely evening snowed-in afterward.
NATCAR:
NATCAR is an electronic slot-car race sponsored by the University of California-Davis. The task is to design an autonomous vehicle that will track a wire which transmits a 75 kHz signal and is covered with reflective tape. The track has some nearly right angled curves, and also crosses itself several times. In 2007, a team of ECE Seniors constructed a car for the competition. The car had two main sensors, the RF sensor for the wire, and an array of optical sensors for the reflective tape. The car also used a sophisticated control design, controlling both the car’s speed and front wheel heading. Our students finished four at the competition.
Top of the Hill Lunar Robot:
In 2007, a team of freshmen participated in The National Robotics Challenge: Top of the Hill Competition, which required a remote controlled robot to drive around a lunar surface (which was wood chips that year), pick up ping-pong balls, and place the balls on a platform at the top of a wood chip hill. Our freshmen did very well in finishing third place and receiving a Bronze Award.
Challenge X:
ChallengeX has been a four year competition to hybridize an SUV. The University of Akron’s team has included over 100 students from ECE, ME, and Business. The University provided a building and a machine shop with a high lift was donated. GM and DOE provided a Chevy Equinox, which has now been thoroughly transformed into a series-parallel hybrid vehicle. A unique feature of the vehicle is its ultracapacitor electrical energy storage bank. The ChallengeX facility will continue to be used for other ongoing hybrid-electric vehicle projects, particularly the Automotive X-Prize.
Presentations:
Ohio Fuel Cell Symposium: May 2009 – A student presented a poster entitled “Battery Management for an Electric Vehicle”, and placed 3rd in the poster competition.
IEEE SAC: April 2009 – The battery management team present their posters and Myers Motors electric vehicle at the IEEE SAC conference project showcase.
EJ Thomas Hall, Project Showcase: April 2009 – The Space Elevator Team was invited to be one of 2 projects represented from the College of Engineering at the donor luncheon on the stage of EJ Thomas Hall.
CUGSR (Conference on Undergraduate and Graduate Student Research): March 2008 and 2009 - In 2008, The Space Elevator Team, Automotive X Prize Team, and robotics team, have presented their research at this conference.
CELT (Celebration of Excellence in Learning and Teaching): March 2008 - The Space Elevator team presented a poster at this conference, similar to the previous.
UCEAO (University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio): April 2008 and 2009 - The Space Elevator Team, Solectria Truck, and Automotive X Prize Team have presented their work at this conference.
Engineer's Week Banquet: Feb 2009 - The Battery Management team, Space Elevator, and Electric Bike were showcased, highlighted by the Myers Motors electric vehicle being driven into the banquet hall.
IECEC (International Energy Conversion Engineering Conference): July 2008- Once again, the Space Elevator team presented their work on beamed power.
Picture Yourself and Engineer Day: March 2008 - The Space Elevator team did 3 demonstrations and talk about their robot to 3 groups of students ranging from middle school-age to junior high.
NASA Explorer's Post: March 2008 - The Space Elevator team did a demonstration with their robot at a NASA Explorer's Post meeting.
Explore Robotics Summer Camp: Summer 2008 - 2 EE students (from the Space Elevator team) assisted with a robotics program put together by the Education Department. The program taught junior-high students the basics of programming and robotics.
Tours: ongoing - participants in competitions such as the Space Elevator Competition and the battery management projects are frequently asked to give tours to special guests, school groups, and other dignitaries.