Fundamentals of Engineering for Honors Robot Competition

The French Field House will be transformed into a high-tech candy land as teams of first-year engineering honors students compete to see which student-built robot is the ‘sweetest’ during The Ohio State University College of Engineering’s robot competition.

Student teams will set their robots in motion around a student-built 12- by 12-foot course that simulates a candy store. The fully autonomous robots have just two minutes to perform specific tasks, including adjusting the temperature of a candy making oven, activating a candy making and packaging line, transporting a skid of packaged chocolate to a cooler and delivering a scoop to the store’s candy counter. The robots are limited in size to a 9 inch square footprint and constructed of various materials, including sheet metal, PVC, acrylic, plywood and Erector set components.

The culmination of a semester-long design-and-build project for freshmen honors students, the single-elimination tournament competition will determine which team has designed the best robot to meet the competition specifications.

The event is open to the public; traditionally, several hundred spectators are on hand.

The scenario:
This year's course is named the SWEET Sensor (Shop With Especially Extravagant Treats: Sugar Energy Nourishing Stressed and Overworked Researchers). Quickly becoming the most popular candy business in the area, the shop is experiencing tremendous increases in consumer business and is struggling to meet demands. Therefore, the CONFEHCTIONERS have decided to implement robotic labor to work overnight to better meet the high consumer demands during daytime hours.

The competition requires each team of three to four students to design, build and program an autonomous robot using creativity and engineering principles. A significant portion of their assignment involves planning, managing and documenting their work on the project.

The event:
The single-elimination tournament of the competition will start at approximately 4:15 pm. Doors will be open for preliminary rounds, which begin at noon. Admission and parking are free. Attendees may park anywhere in the surface lots adjacent to French Field House. Parking is also available at the Tuttle Park Place Parking Garage or the Lane Avenue Parking Garage at an hourly rate.

The competition is sponsored by donations from industry partners and sponsors.