At a glance
Over a dozen Alfred State students recently put their engineering skills and knowledge to the test during the college’s annual Firefighting Robot Competition.
Over a dozen Alfred State students recently put their engineering skills and knowledge to the test during the college’s annual Firefighting Robot Competition.
These 17 students, whose majors range from computer engineering technology, to electrical engineering technology, to mechatronics technology, were divided into four teams, with each group entering one robot into the competition. This yearly event is a component of the Embedded and Real-time Systems course taught by Dr. Maryam Nasri, an assistant professor in the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Technology Department.
According to the rules established by the Trinity College Firefighting Home Robot Contest, each team’s robot “must start on a signal (a simulated fire alarm), explore a typical family home (the arena), locate a fire (a burning candle), extinguish it, and optionally return to its starting point.”
The competition involves two levels. During level one, teams have three minutes in which their robot must navigate an arena (maze) and extinguish the candle. In level two, the robots have four minutes in which to extinguish the candle.
Teams are able to attempt level one twice and level two twice, whether they succeed at level one or not. Scoring is based on a robot’s ability to complete certain tasks, as well as the amount of time it takes a robot to complete its trial.
The results of this year’s competition are as follows:
First Place – Elysee Hirwa, electrical engineering technology, Buffalo; Kyle Konieczny, electrical engineering technology; Lancaster; Ryan Pettys, electrical engineering technology, Buffalo; and Dustin Shepard, computer engineering technology, Hornell.
Second Place – Charles Elliott, electrical engineering technology, Alfred Station; Cristian Juarez-Morales, electrical engineering technology, Bronx; Austin Sullivan, electrical engineering technology, Middleport; and Bryan Villarreal, computer engineering technology, Syracuse.
Third Place – Bernard Anderson Jr., computer engineering technology, Buffalo; Aidan Benway, computer engineering technology, Farmington; Kiera Moore, computer engineering technology, Buffalo; and Collin Nietzel, computer engineering technology, Liberty.
Fourth Place – Giolvin Acevedo, computer engineering technology, Brooklyn; Jevon Coleman, computer engineering technology, Brooklyn; Larry Livingston, electrical engineering technology, Buffalo; Justin Odai, electrical engineering technology, Boynton Beach, FL; and Brett Sax, mechatronics technology, Geneva.
The top three teams each received a cash prize, and all teams received a certificate of attendance.
Throughout the entire spring semester, the students use their weekly lab time to program each of the devices used in their robot, such as distance sensors, DC motors, servo motors, and temperature sensors. The students also create hundreds of lines of code and integrate all of the separate devices to create their robot.
Speaking of the real-world educational benefits of the competition, Dr. Nasri said, “Robotics is one of the main aspects of mechatronics engineering. Also, the students learn to program microcontrollers at an advanced level, which is a requirement for engineers in these fields. They design, implement, and troubleshoot a project in a short period of time. They work in groups, present their work twice after their proposal and at the end of the semester, and learn to write a technical report considering all aspects of cost evaluation, feasibility studies, time management, and teamwork.”
