CONSUMER
Robots do battle in UCD
22-04-2008
by Emmet Ryan
Teams of students will unleash 21 robots upon the unsuspecting masses in UCD on Tuesday evening in a bid to claim the title of Siemens RoboRugby champion 2008.
This is the fourth year of the event and 62 students from the Dublin-based university are taking part. The purpose of the competition is to make engineering fun and to help develop practical skills in students.
"We are trying to develop creative thinking skills," Brian Mulkeen a lecturer in the UCD School of Electrical, Electronic & Mechanical Engineering told ENN. "It's a quite useful part of the first year course."
RoboRugby is a module open to first year students in UCD and Mulkeen said it aided the students in developing problem-solving abilities.
While Maths and Physics help to develop analytical skills in students, the UCD lecturer feels students need courses like RoboRugby so they could get a grip on the creative side of engineering. "The students will be able to apply the skills they learnt on this course to more serious applications in later life," explained Mulkeen.
The robots themselves are largely constructed out of sets of lego. All participants in the competition use the same basic kit and introduce electronic sensors and on-board computers into their designs. The robots are then programmed by the students to act autonomously when they engage in battle on the RoboRugby court. This means students have no control over their robots once they start, requiring them instead to develop the skills to teach their robots how to operate.
UCD student Lisa Harrington told ENN that her experience in the course helped her to get a more practical understanding of engineering. "I wanted to get a feel for electronic engineering," she said. "This competition lets you mess around with circuits and see how everything works."
In addition to witnessing technology in action the competition also presented students with opportunity to get an idea of how to adapt in the working environment. "It was a good experience of working with a team, feeling the ins and outs and the ups and downs," said Ciaran Joyce, a student participating in the competition.
The fourth annual Siemens RoboRugby tournament takes place on Tuesday evening in the Clinton Auditorium in UCD. To see ENN's exclusive video of the robots in action, click here.
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