In this project completed in Fall 2008, students were challenged to design, build, and test a robotic system to locate a potential threat in a building. In order to simulate some of the challenges such a system would encounter, a course consisting of 3 wooden stairs leading to a large platform was constructed. The robots had to climb the set of stairs and then located a threat object at a random location on the platform. The system had to then provide information on the threat object including it's location (distance and angle), weight, and temperature.

Climbing the set of three stairs proved to be a good challenge for the students and facilitated a variety of locomotion designs including tracks, belts, articulating arms and even a two-stage deployable robot with an integrated ramp. The measurement of weight also provided a further mechanical challenge as teams had to lift the threat object for that measurement.

In this project, students were challenged to design, build, and test a robotic system to track and sort "nuclear" waste in a storage facility. Some design requirements include reading an RFID tag attached to the waste container in order to read its age and measuring the volume within the container. The robot must then sort and relocate the containers by traversing a rocky area and climbing and descending a ramp. Students were given a kit of materials and technology including a Handyboard and a variety of sensors. They also had a budget from which to purchase other parts.

The students' designs were outstanding. It took several weeks for the teams to overcome the challenge of reading the RFID tags but they all were able to effectively track the containers using this technology. Several designs included unique and effective ways to measure the volume of liquid and to limit spilling of the fluid as the robot traversed the rocky area and incline.

In this project, students were challenged to sort three types of balls, a while billiard ball, a black billiard ball, and a tennis ball, into different bins. The bins were located approximately four feet above the ground and four feet from the front of the machine creating a mechanical challenge in launching the balls into the bins.

Most of the teams used light sensors to distinguish between the two colors of billiard balls but a variety of approaches were used to sort the tennis balls including using the size difference, weight difference and rotational moment of inertia difference between the tennis balls and billiard balls. As shown in the photos, the final systems took on a variety of shapes and sizes.