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ÿÈÕ´óÈü¹ÙÍø engineering students won first place in robotics and in circuit design competition at the IEEE Region Five Robotics Competition recently in Corpus Christi, Texas. IEEE, which originally was an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, is an association of professionals dedicated to the advancement of technology.
All of the 18 competing teams brought their compact, mobile and autonomous robots to operate on a predefined field for the competition. The challenge was to extinguish a fire that had been identified on a distant oil rig. The winner was determined by the robot that was able to put out the fire the quickest.
"LeTourneau's robot stood out from the rest with its performance," said Dr. Seung Kim, engineering professor and IEEE faculty adviser, who accompanied the team to competition. "Ours was one of only six robots that qualified the final round, and our students' robot took a much shorter time to complete the challenge."
The robotics team included electrical engineering senior Jonathan Sculley of Atlanta, Ga.; electrical engineering senior Jordan Swavely of Boyertown, Penn.; electrical engineering technology senior Bryan Swink of Longview, Texas; electrical engineering senior Evan Jones of Austin, Texas; mechanical engineering senior SaeHwan Park of Geoje, Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea; mechanical engineering senior Peter Heitmann of Penryn, Calif.; computer engineering senior William Warke of Longview, Texas; computer engineering senior Leila Yammine of Austin, Texas; and electrical engineering junior Dustin Brown of Chester, Calif.
LETU's circuit competition team members who also won first place at their competition were electrical engineering senior Ben Ito of Yokohama, Japan; and electrical engineering senior Alex Rickards of Coatesville, Penn.
They successfully competed with 21 other teams and completed the task and presented their design well to judges to earn first place.
"Our students' success shows our courses in electrical and computer engineering meet the high standards for industry," said Dr. Joonwan Kim, the faculty sponsor of the robotics team and also electrical and computer engineering coordinator.
Other teams competing included the University of Texas at Austin, Rice University, Texas Tech University, University of Louisiana, Louisiana State University, University of Kansas, University of Houston, University of New Orleans, University of Missouri, South Dakota School of Mines and others from the states belonging to IEEE Region 5, which includes all of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and parts of Wyoming, South Dakota, Illinois and New Mexico.