UA Engineering Students Compete in Robotics Program

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — A team of engineering students at The University of Alabama will compete in the IEEE SoutheastCon Hardware competition March 17 in Orlando, Fla.

Robots will be tasked with traversing a maze-like course of connected boxes by analyzing electrical signals and other information along the way. Each box includes a task for the robot to interpret. The four different tasks, of varying difficulty, include measuring voltage and interpreting the magnitude. Correct interpretation of the electrical information will provide the robot with directional instructions, such as turning left or right.

Points will be given for correctly reading and interpreting this information consistently as the robot circulates the track. Winners will be determined by the robot that achieves the most points. Each challenge will last four minutes.

UA’s team will compete against several teams from the IEEE Southeast region. Last year, UA finished 13th out of about 50 teams.

The UA student team consists of seniors majoring in electrical and computer engineering:

• Ashley Allman, from Muscle Shoals

• Matthew Bell, from Alabaster

• Mark Edwards, from Oxford

• Bryant Grace, from Huntsville

• Andy Hains, from Hoover

• Caleb Leslie, from Enterprise

• Jonathan Pittman, from Athens

Dr. Kenneth Ricks, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is the faculty adviser for the team. He provides technical advising and guidance.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 3,300 students and more than 100 faculty. In the last eight years, students in the College have been named USA TodayAll-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.